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print thisCar-tax money eyed to fix roads
Harrell backs $86 million rather than gas-tax boost
House Speaker Bobby Harrell wants to find the money to fix the state’s roads and bridges — but an increase in the gasoline tax isn’t likely to happen when the Legislature convenes in January.
Instead, the Charleston Republican wants to start by dedicating money from the existing sales tax on vehicles to road maintenance.
Such a move would shift about $86 million to a problem that business leaders see as critical to the state’s economy.
Studies have found that more than half of the state’s secondary roads are in poor or mediocre condition and more than 2,000 of the state’s 8,321 bridges need to be replaced.
Transportation funding advocates say it is both an economic development issue and a safety issue.
The S.C. Chamber of Commerce has been listening to business people express concern about the roads at the annual Grassroots Networks Regional Meetings around the state.
“So far, they do not seem opposed to increasing the motor fuel user fee,” said Marcia Purday, spokeswoman for the S.C. Chamber of Commerce. “We have heard that at every meeting.”
Any new source of funds for road construction should not be one-time money, Purday said.
“We really need recurring dollars,” she said. “That is what business leaders are telling us in the Grassroots meetings.”
Harrell wants to identify several revenue streams to shift to the Department of Transportation and State Infrastructure Bank.
“I would like us to be in the $200 million range, but I don’t know if we can get there,” Harrell said.
Any shifting of funds would have to be done gradually, he said, over three to five years.
Likewise, any source of money needs to be a dependable stream of revenue, he said.
“The sales tax on cars is an easy argument for roads,” Harrell said. “Maybe we have to find things that don’t have a direct connection to roads, but they are steady streams of revenue that DOT or the infrastructure bank could count on in the future.”
Harrell made his proposal earlier this week when he received The Transportation Advocate of the Year Award from the S.C. Transportation Policy and Research Council. Harrell’s father is a member of the state Transportation Commission.
The $86 million derived from the sales tax on vehicles is almost the equivalent of what an increase of three cents in the gasoline tax would raise, Harrell said.
While there will be discussions in the Legislature about increasing the gasoline tax, Harrell said, that is not the way to go. He is generally opposed to any tax increase.
South Carolina’s economy is improving and tax revenues are increasing as indicated by the state’s increasing budget surplus.
“Our economy is strong enough that we can afford to move streams of revenue over to DOT,” Harrell said. “That is a way to accomplish these goals without having to raise taxes.”
Charles R. “Randy” Snow, a past president of the S.C. Transportation Policy and Research Council, said Harrell’s plan is encouraging.
But Snow, who is president of Simpsonville-based general contractor U.S. Constructors, said he was discouraged that Harrell didn’t sign on to raising the gasoline tax.
With gas prices bobbing up and down, Snow said, an increase would hardly be noticed.
“We are fighting the no-tax pledge that a lot of (lawmakers) have signed,” Snow said, referring to the effort by the S.C. Association of Taxpayers that dozens of legislators and Sanford have signed.
“Because of that, we’ve got people who are afraid to say what we ought to do for our roads and bridges, which is increase the user fee.”
The last gas tax increase was in 1986 — when Republican Gov. Carroll Campbell was in office.
“We are still driving for tomorrow on that same three-cent increase passed 20 years ago,” said Florence Mayor Frank Willis, a Democrat. Willis helped found the policy council in 1981 to support adequate funding of transportation.
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