Letters: Raise gas tax to fix SC roads

Bad roads are a nationwide problem; it costs more to fix our cars than it would to fix the problem. This is why Michelin and Sonoco have suggested they won’t expand in South Carolina until we spend money to fix our roads.

People I talk to aren’t in favor of increasing South Carolina’s 17-cents-per-gallon gasoline tax. Why do they not understand that they are going to pay for bad roads no matter how the money is raised? We will pay in auto repairs forever and ever, or we will pay by raising the auto sales tax, license fees or any other methods our brilliant legislators may come up with.

The most sensible method has always been a road-use tax (gasoline tax). That is the only way that the out-of-state drivers (vacationers and truckers) will pay their fair share, which is a whopping 33 percent of our gasoline purchases. This seems like a no brainer to me.

It has been 26 years since the gasoline tax was raised, with no increases for inflation over that time. Do we have any politicians with any brains at all?

This story was originally published August 6, 2015 at 7:17 PM.