Ross: Let out-of-state drivers help fix SC roads

The Senate Finance Committee is considering a plan to improve South Carolina’s roads by raising the motor fuel user fee/gas tax by 12 cents over three years and cutting nearly $400 million in income and business taxes.

Out-of-state residents pay nearly a third of our motor fuel user fee, which means they would pay $133 million of the $442 million the gas tax would generate by 2018-19.

Even with this reality, there is a small group of senators who are adamantly opposed to increasing any fees. They are demanding the General Assembly instead use surplus and growth revenue in the state budget to fund road repair. Their approach would put the entire burden on South Carolinians, rather than allowing out-of-state motorists to share the burden.

Worse, their proposal is not guaranteed to address the state’s long-term road needs — projected to cost upwards to $1 billion annually for the next 30 years. This past year’s budget growth of 6.5 percent was twice the average growth rate of the past 25 years.

It is impossible to plan and fund these hugely expensive projects without additional certified recurring revenue. The majority of the state’s revenue growth is coming from South Carolinians in the form of sales tax, income tax and corporate income tax. These funds finance core government services, predominately education, health care, public safety and social services.

Roads and bridges, by contrast, are funded through motor fuel user fees and do not receive substantial funding from the general fund. When it comes to road funding, it is simple: The more you drive, the more you pay.

Under the plan in the Finance Committee, the increased cost to South Carolinians would be nearly balanced out from proposed tax reductions.

Essentially, the proposal would fund roads directly by increasing user fees, on South Carolinians and out-of-state drivers, and use recurring state funds to support tax reductions for South Carolinians. This is better budgeting and long-term fiscal policy.

The political game being waged by some legislators opposing an increase in our motor fuel user fee/gas tax hurts the people of South Carolina. We must encourage our legislators to be fiscally responsible and follow Ronald Reagan’s principles: general taxes for general services, user fees for specific uses.

This story was originally published February 1, 2016 at 12:49 PM.