Another SC gas tax hike coming as prices already near $5 a gallon. Here’s when and how much
South Carolina motorists can brace themselves now to pay an extra guaranteed $0.02 a gallon for gas in July amid already skyrocketing fuel costs in the state.
It’s the sixth and final consecutive year of increases for the state’s motor fuel user fee, which was passed in 2017 to raise the gas tax from $0.16 to $0.28 a gallon to help fund road maintenance and upgrades. The latest increase, which begins July 1, will raise the tax from $0.26 to $0.28 a gallon.
The tax increase comes as many motorists are already reeling from skyrocketing gas prices, with the state on track to hit $5 a gallon soon.
According to AAA South Carolina, the state average for a regular gallon of gas was $4.51 on Tuesday, up from $4.46 on Monday and $4.25 a week ago.
Earlier this year, there was some talk in the state Legislature about suspending the gasoline tax to help motorists as fuel costs began to spike. However, the idea was opposed by the South Carolina Department of Transportation and others and was soon quashed.
“Turning off the gas tax without putting a backfill behind it would cause a cash crunch for the DOT,” said Justin Powell, deputy secretary for finance and administration for the DOT.
Powell said having the assurance of the gas tax back in 2017 let the DOT develop a 10-year plan that it has been executing ever since.
According to the DOT, from July 1, 2017, when the tax first increased, through March 2022, approximately $898.4 million in increased revenues have been deposited into the state Infrastructure Maintenance Trust Fund to help support more than $2 billion in road and bridge work.
Powell said that to date, the number of paved roads considered to be in good condition have doubled and that another 1,100 miles of road are set to be resurfaced over the next fiscal year. The DOT has improved safety on 700 miles of rural roads so far by adding features like rumble strips and is well underway replacing 500 bridges and improving more than 80 miles of interstate.
If the DOT lost the gas tax, “we’d have to look at making cuts to things and there’d be the potential to lose all the progress we’ve been making,” Powell said.
This story was originally published June 7, 2022 at 1:24 PM.
