The suggestion to raise the gas tax was made Friday by state Sen. Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, during a meeting on Pawley's Island of an economic-development organization that serves the northeastern part of the state.
The proposal comes at the same time that a new traffic report says South Carolina needs around 1,900 new lane-miles -- costing about $4.9 billion -- to reduce congestion and prepare for growth expected by 2030. A lane-mile is a way to measure pavement; for example, a two-lane stretch of road that spans a mile equals two lane-miles.
State Sen. Scott Richardson, R-Hilton Head Island, said he's been pushing for a gas-tax increase for the last five years, but there hasn't been enough legislative support for the hike.
As it stands, the state's 16-cent gas tax, which has not been increased since 1989, goes directly to the South Carolina Department of Transportation to pay for new roads and maintenance. The average state gas tax is 25.7 cents per gallon, according to the American Petroleum Institute.
State Rep. Bill Herbkersman, R-Bluffton, said he would support the increase only if the state's funding formulas for roads were rewritten to take into account the number of visitors who drive on local roads rather than focusing on an area's permanent population. Roads in coastal counties like Beaufort County see a lot more traffic each year because of tourists, but he said that's not taken into account when the Transportation Department decides where to spend money.
"I would support it on the condition that the money collected go to the places where we need it the most," Herbkersman said.
State Rep. Richard Chalk, R-Hilton Head, said he'd rather pay for road improvements with some of the $171.5 million surplus the state ended the fiscal year with, but that he would strongly consider supporting a gas-tax increase if that's not possible.
"I firmly believe that roads are an issue that need to be addressed in our state, and we have to find the money to do it," Chalk said. "And if the need can't be met from existing sources, then I think the gas tax is obviously an appropriate place to look."
Putting more money toward road construction and improvements could have another benefit for South Carolina drivers, the Reason Foundation study found. Making the needed $4.9 billion in road improvements would save more than 19 million hours per year that are wasted in traffic jams, the study found.