Monday letters: Fund SC roads entirely with gas tax

Let’s see if I understand this correctly. We need $1.5 billion to fix our roads. There are four proposals on the table, two of which raise about $450 million and two of which will raise maybe $800 million. Now, I am not a mathematical genius, but I guess our governor and our legislators must be, because I do not understand how they are going to fix our $1.5 billion problem with $450 million (Haley and House plans) or $800 million (competing Senate plans).

Part of this increase comes from a hike in automobile taxes and license fees. The cost of repairing the roads should come from the gasoline tax only because out-of-state drivers should pay their fair share of all road maintenance. Since one-third of all gasoline purchases are by out-of-state drivers, any other way we raise money will mean we pay 100 percent of the cost instead of just two-thirds.

My question to the governor and our legislators is why the money should be raised any other way than through a gasoline tax.

Camden

This story was originally published May 31, 2015 at 7:56 PM with the headline "Monday letters: Fund SC roads entirely with gas tax."