PALMETTO STATE CAN’T AFFORD IT
A recycled trade association wants to raise South Carolina’s gas tax by an unspecified amount to fund infrastructure enhancements – one of several proposed tax hikes being pushed in the Palmetto State for 2013.
The “S.C. Alliance To Fix Our Roads” – formerly the “South Carolinians for Better Highways” (and later the “Transportation Policy and Research Council”) – has hired a veteran special interest insider and former taxpayer-funded lobbyist to make its case to the S.C. General Assembly. Their efforts got a nice plug in this week’s editions of The (Columbia, S.C.) State newspaper – a left-leaning rag which wasted little time in pointing out that South Carolina’s 16-cent per gallon tax is the third-lowest tax in America.
What did The State fail to mention? For starters, the paper left out the fact that South Carolina maintains the fourth-largest highway system in America – which is utterly ridiculous for a state that ranks fortieth in size. The State also failed to point out that South Carolina’s low gas tax is essential given the disproportionate percentage of income our citizens are shelling out on fuel.
Because South Carolinians are dirt poor (and getting poorer), they wind up paying a much higher share of their income when filling up their vehicles. According to a 2011 study, South Carolina ranks second in the nation (behind only Mississippi) in terms of the percentage of individual income its citizens spent on gasoline. So while our gas tax may be low compared to other states, our citizens clearly cannot afford to pay more than they’re already paying.
The State also failed to mention Interstate 73 or Interstate 526 – two totally unnecessary transportation projects which will drain hundreds of millions of dollars from South Carolina taxpayers over the coming decade. Nor did the paper address the shameful financial mismanagement at the S.C. Department of Transportation (SCDOT) – one of several government agencies S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley has run into the ground since taking office.
“Republicans” in South Carolina have wanted to increase the gas tax for several years, but the recent recession has prevented them from doing so. Meanwhile a Democrat – S.C. Rep. Bakari Sellers – has actually proposed a modest gas tax cut.
Sellers says he’s opposed to any tax hike on gasoline in the upcoming legislative session.
“We’re not going to raise any taxes until we first prioritize our spending,” Sellers said. “That’s why I’ve filed a bill to make sure that every dollar in capital reserve funding either goes to infrastructure needs or small business tax relief.”
To her credit Haley says she’s against a gas tax increase, too.
Good for them. And shame on The State for once again giving its readers only half the story (the liberal half).
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69 comments
Why not turn road maintenance over to the counties?? Why does the state own so many roads?? Come to think of it, why does the state own the school bus fleet? Wait, they own Santee Cooper too. Who is making money on this??
Looks like they room together to share expenses.
http://www.sctransportation.com/contact.html
South Carolina Alliance To Fix Our Roads
2425 Devine Street
PO Box 50166
Columbia, South Carolina 29250
http://data.scchamber.net/Associations/Sc-Trucking-Association,-Inc
SC Trucking Association, Inc.
2425 Devine St
P.O. Box 50166
Columbia , SC 29250
http://www.sctrucking.org/
Good one!
If it fixes our roads, I’m all for it. Perhaps we can actually begin fixing the disaster, we call South Carolina roads. Nikki Haley has burned everything she has touched. Sanford could run this state better from the trail. How screwed up is this? More importantly, HOW DID SHE GET AN RNC SPEAKING SPOT!? This just proves Republicans are missing the point.
— because she has a G-SPOT?
did miles kill kay?
Come on, people. Show a little sympathy here.
The lobbying group in question is funded in large part by highway construction contractors, and they’re already in trouble- they need our support. They’re looking at laying off at least half of their workforce.
Why?
Because the Chinese have just patented a shovel with a kickstand.
good one
The highways are going to shit and the bridges are going to collapse soon, we might want to consider fixing those soon
What’s the fits news solution to road repair anyways? You linked a story about scdot not being able to afford to repair the roads and we can’t raise taxes ever apparently. Do you want to privatize the roads? Why should the govt do this. Imagine a network where every road is a privatized toll road! A libertarians wet dream.
S.C. roads are the worst I have ever traveled. We need to fix our roads and infrastructure before it costs more lives. I would pay more taxes as long as the money is used for what it is intended for. We need a better Governor and elected officials in S.C. I am tired of seeing Mount Pleasant in Charleston County roads repaired and Summerville in Dorchester County ignored.Every town should benefit.
Good job, FITS. I agree w/ you 100 percent.
Time to stand up against this. It’s Obama-esque.
Tax the hell out of gas at stations within 2 miles of interstate highways. That way travelers out of state) pay the majority of the money while locals know where not to buy gas. simple.
We can’t afford any more state tax when federal taxes are also going up
Obama’s lack of a legitimate energy policy (except hate) has imposed a dollar-a-gallon TAX on gas for almost 4 years…
That’s about $20 everytime EVERY American fills up…
Enough is Enough. Go to Obama and ask him to feed your FILTHY GREEDY @$$#$….We are Tapped out…
NO NO NO To a gas tax. You have bled us dry…No MORE Liberals and Democrats…NO MORE…
I know that the closed minds on this subject will pass their usual brick but good roads equal jobs. I do not care what you think but every body who reads this column depends on transportation for their lives and their lifestyle. SC does not have the worst roads in the country, Lousianna and Missouri are fighting for that dubious distinction with Arkansas bringing in a close third. Our problems are more that the roads are 30 years out of date. My one wish is that all those who feel that no taxes, no how, no way could be stuck in downtown Charleston the next time they try to evacuate for a hurricane.
John C…STFU you Theiving IDIOT..
We’ve paid over and Over for our roads…and styupid Son of a B!*ches like you Stole the F^&kin’ money for your GREEDY social programs and Wasteful Government spending…
You are the @$$hole w/ the Closed mind…
NO MEANS NO…and FITS is 1,000 Percent right to say H#!! NO…Again: H#!! NO…
To any Tax increase. Your god and savior Obama has BROKEN our economy and he’s Robbing us blind…
Take your IGORANT @$$ to him, and ask Him for the Money he’s already Taken…you blithering Piece of $#!*….
EVERY Taxpayer in this Country needs to Step up and Slap the Livin $#!* out of these F*@kin’ CREEPS like John C…
t you are such a fucking idiot that i wonder why you still post..seriously..no one and i mean no one respects you or your rants you cream and call names but are literally the biggest pussy of an asshole in probably the whole state of south Carolina..you sit behind your keyboard and call names but at heart you are a pussy and a coward who only calls names from the safety of the internet because like you have done your whole life..you hide and mumble, you hide and call names cause you dont have the balls to say to anyone’s face. you are simply stated a total piece of shit coward whose own family thinks is a loser..if you had friends they would think the same thing but you have only your own delusions to keep you company.. just stick to political predictions…oh wait a sec you are a total loser at that as well..shit boy..you aint got nothin. Just you and your delusions.. Enjoy the company asshole.
Common Sense: Worthless Stealing pieces of $#!* like you are emboldened right now. You got your god and idol elected because of some Dumb@$$#$ and cheaters in OH. Penn and a couple other places…
But you better—and I mean you BETTER- G.T.F. out my face…
This is South Carolina. People like me own this state and We REJECTED your Bull-S#!* god overwhelmingly.
Take your FAILED crap up to the states that are Stupid enough to buy your CRAP…Those BANKRUPT idiot liberal states…
I will Organize a POSSE of callers to GOP elected officials to Slap the living P!$$ out of Human FECES like you…
You HATE because me I see you (and Expose you) for the TRASH you are…
Don’t bring that crap around me…unless you are ready for a SEVERE @$$-kickin’ (figuratively of course)….
2013: A new day. Onward and Upward against Leftwing Debris…
Big T has gotten noticeably worse in his rants since Obamas victory.
The American Right Wing is in a collective state of shock and he is just a part of it.Sad really to see a person having an obvious mental breakdown before ones eyes.Now threatening people who disagree with him with physical violence?He is a very sick man.
anytime anyplace you fucking coward..quit hiding behind the keyboard and actually back up your words what say you loser cowardly one? Or just more im gonna kick your ass as long as i can hide behind my keyboard..you are such a pussy t..a coward a proven loser and a pussy…bang up job sarah..bang up job.
Look at Common Sense yall. Think about how the Leftwing Dumb@$$#$ like CS, rail about Violence and blame others…
Yet when you tell these Theiving Piece of S#!* to get his FILTHY Paw out of your pocket..ythis Brain-Dead Dolt wants to fight…
What’s funny: the left has always P@$$!#d out when it breaks…
And you can believe this little Sissy punk would run like the effemate limp-wrist he is…should he be confronted…
Online meltdowns can be pretty amusing to watch, at leaast to those of us jaded by seeing so many before.
And some wags are pretty adept and eager in triggering them in the naturally susceptible.
Carry on.
no mental midget ..you type endlessly about how your gonna whip ass and get out of your way..i jsut told you to back your own words but like all cowards..you hide. typical.
Mental Midgets—-Big T and that consummate moron and poster child of idiocy JOE WILSON.
The morons running SCDOT can’t be trusted to manage the highway tax dollars they get now, much less an increase. You have to put competent management in before gas taxes are increased. The Legislature knows this.
They’re too busy wasting public money doing things like Inspecting Private Bridges in Gated Communities.
Put competent members in Congress. say NO to JOE in 2014.
Need to add about 20 cents a gallon:
5 cents exclusively for “match” on interstate fed funds;
10 cents to catch up on state highways repairs;
5 cents for county road match.
All in all, we have a good highway system – we’ve just neglected to keep up with repairs and repaving. In 1940 (so I am told) there was not a post office in South Carolina that could not be reached by a paved road (although the one at Salem in Oconee County could only be reached from the Walhalla side on pavement).
16 cents a gallon on a 20 gallon tank. 2 tanks (cars) per family a week.
SO: At least about a $15 a week tax or $60 a month ($700-plus a yr.) on EVERY family in SC…
Are you out of your F&*k!n Minds????
If any REPUBLICAN agrees to even ONE CENT more in taxes, based on the THEFT of the government already…
WE WILL DEFEAT YOU. YOUR CAREER WILL BE OVER….
PS: I BEG (I BEG) one of you Bast@*ds to get in my face and try to push this. You’ll find out just how ADAMANT we are and P!$$#d about the Sorry @$$ govermnent you have already THRUST upon us…
Again: NO MORE!!!!
If one could design a power-plant boiler to absorb the exothermic effusions of BigT, it might be worth raising the gas tax by 20 cents or so. In lowered fuel bills for electricity we might even come out a bit ahead.
I’d like our bridges and roads maintained and such, but I like others don’t trust SCDOT with the vast sum they already get far less another mountain of cash.
Fix DOT first, then the roads.
And “fix” the legislature so they cannot divert gas tax to projects other than highways.
Clean out the DOT heirarchy and replace the lobbyists with people with DOT training and experience. English, history, and PE Majors generally are not trained in highway management, building, or maintenance. No tax dollars should be spent paying lobbyist from a state agency to bribe state legislators to spend more of our tax dollars. Think about it. Tax dollars spent to spend more tax dollars. No wonder we are in the mess we are in and our roads are getting to be dangerous to drive on. Try driving Hwy1 between Leesville and Priceville Rdwhen rain is falling. You are taking your life in your hands.
Thank you FITS for outing the media’s effort to IMPOSE this tax in the middle of the Obama Depression…
You have an Army of decent (the producers of) South Carolina behind you. Just lead…and we will follow on this one…
Good work…
“This is South Carolina. People like me own this state and We REJECTED your Bull-S#!* god overwhelmingly.”
Jeebus! THAT’S why we’re so behind other states, Biggs!!
Notice all the Leftwing Dumb@$$#$ (like IS) are attacking me for opposition to this Exorbidant Tax…
Any Republican can make his name for him-herself fighting the Liberals over this Theft of our money….
FITS gets that….
Now is the time to stand up. They think they are Rulers of the world…
Cannot wait to see them find out different…
Not at all, Dumbass. I joking about your perceived holy war on liberals, silly.
I’m on a Crusade FOR my fellow Americans…
No one is looking out for the people…and you are GREEDY and Thieving…and you don’rt give a $#!* as long as you can take from the producers…
Enough is Enough…
Since you’re so open on your FaceBook page (you really should change your security settings before you sign in on other media sites) I’ll share something with you about how I didn’t build that: After high school I needed to borrow money for my college education. I paid it all back upon graduation with no defaults or late payments, started a business, got married and I give back to my community and other charities when people are suffering. Not a saint by any means, but I’m loyal to my friends, family and convictions. There’s no way I would be where I am without that assistance.
You just stopped being a bum and I applaud you for that.
soap: i would practically pay to see a picture of big t..and i know others who visit this site would love to know his name..please? in the tradition of the holidays etc?
I suspect Big T never created a job in is life. My guess is als he has benefited far more from taxpayer money than he eveer paid in. I think tht makes him a taker.
CS,
I was totally going to out him, but the more I looked into it, I did see some humanity in him. I realized he’s just a product of his environment and life experiences. He truly believes he’s fighting the good fight. His intolerance for people different than him is his poison, but, he does have some good. I mostly blame his blind faith in religion and rightwing media nutjobs, but it could be a combination of other factors as well. Anyway, I’ll keep calling him a prick nonetheless, as I’m sure he’ll keep calling us Dumb@$$! Lol.
Biggs, Happy Holidays and open up that mind of yours. The godless, secular humanists aren’t all bad, you dig?
I have absolutely NOTHING to be ashamed of…and I Apologize to NO ONE, except God…
You cannot defend your hatred or taking from others…so you attempt to attack…
You make EVERY Excuse for every kind of behavior imaginable if it’s from the left…But your only response to your Failure and hatred of your country is to try to debase other Americans…
No one should EVER try to defned themselves to Obam-ites and-or liberals. You are what is WRONG with the country….you should get down on your ]knees and beg for the destruction you cause…
Go mow a yard, BiTch!
Please Mr. Soap: Don’t ‘out’ me. I promise I’ll quit mentioning how Stuupid you looked arguing the Gloabal Warming Hoax as Gospel…
I’m sorry for making you look Ignorant, after your side offered you up as the brains of your movement…Please Forgive me…
You have bigger problems than posting inane shit all day…maybe if you stop being a hateful dick, you just might feel better.
The taxpayers would be better served by making SCDOT get their shit together before we pay one more penny in gas taxes. Do what you are charged with doing and stop with the pipe dream bullshit of a bunch of shady, well connected ass clowns trying to enrich themselves.
The truckers association wants a gas tax hike so give them a gas tax hike…on DIESEL FUEL.
The (Columbia, S.C.) Statenewspaper – a left-leaning rag which wasted little time in pointing out that South Carolina’s 16-cent per gallon tax is the third-lowest tax in America.
So there are only two states ahead of us? Great to see! So often SC ranks near the bottom……
Oh….wait. The State considers low taxes to be a BAD thing…..
Treasurer Curtis Loftis said it best last year at my Rotary club when he was dogging the DOT about spending. Something close to: “How can they be trusted to spend new money when they refuse to be open about the money we give them now. Until DOT lets the internal DOT auditors report OUTSIDE the DOT they can expect not to be trusted.”
Smart then and smart now. It is a matter of trust and they have not earned it.
BINGO…
Funny you would mention South Carolina and Mississippi in the same story. The two reddest states in the nation and the two most fucked up state governments in the nation. Seems maintaining a status quo of being totally fucked is what both due best.
Good to see this site doing their small part to help out.
Wonder why the Rusat Belt is losing population…and SC is adding???
PS: How’s that Bankruptcy going in California…and I heard you can go to jail for transpoting a “40” into NYC…
Liberals: If you did not have Lies, Fables and Myths…you’d have NOTHING….
But I give you credit…you can sell your Fairy Tales better than anyone going…That said: your audience is pretty stupid….
Talk about fucked up government……moved to this state and ran into Joe Wilson. What a fucking whack job. Now he’s our congressman here in Aiken. Oh shit! This guy is a moron.
Ha ha ha….you got him now Aiken! Don’t expect Wilson or his slime ball staff to do anything for you except remind you what you don’t have, stuff their faces at your club meetings, free of course, and embarrass you. Bye bye Joe!
Hey Andy: The same highway you came in on, leads out, too…
But I’m guessing you fled here because the lieftwing nutjobs had collpased your God-forsaken state…
Joe “You Lie” Wilson is A LOT more welcome here than you…He lives where progress is ahead…you are mired in Failure, like your lord Obama…
We all know Joe Wilson is a douche bag. So is Butch Wallace.
Somebody please redistrict Wilson out of Lexington County. The man Is a JOKE. I agree with Aiken Andy. Joe Wilson is as dumb as shit.
Joe means jobs?? He hasn’t done anything for jobs except secure his own. +1 he’s a douche bag.
….and when you get there, you’ll see some high gas prices!
I just want to know if Miles killed Kay for some $$
Have you driven in MS? Their roads are hands down worst.
Seconded. Their roads are by far the worst, at the very least in the South.
“My one wish is that all those who feel that no taxes, no how, no way could be stuck in downtown Charleston the next time they try to evacuate for a hurricane.”
Why would I be “stuck”? I’m smart enough to evac BEFORE the mass exodus.
Live in a storm surge zone, have no Bug Out plan, blame infrastructure.
A magnetic compass and a road map can live in your glovebox for years. My truckers atlas resides under my seat.
“English, history, and PE Majors generally are not trained in highway management, building, or maintenance.”
They have no technical education therefore they have no business making tech decisions. The only ex-military who should be appointed should have had a CAREER in an appropriate field, such as Civil Engineering.
If maintaining roads is not a “core function” of government – even to a stupid Libertarian; pardon the oxymoron – so that the county and state cops can do their jobs without tearing up their government provided vehicles, what in the hell is?
SCDOT is the 4th most efficient and cost-effective DOT in the nation. You should be thankful.
http://reason.org/news/show/18th-annual-highway-report
Who would you rather trust to maintain the bridges? the City of Columbia or SCDOT?
Glad to know boondoggles like I-73 will be taken care of by the fourth ranked state DOT. At least we know our money will be pissed down on a worthless road in a more efficient manner.
SCDOT has severe problems, who cares if 40 plus DOTs are worse?
Thanks for that excellent data. Since SCDOT is so efficiently managing our roads, then they obviously don’t need a gas tax increase. In fact, maybe they could raise money for the State as expensive consultants to the other 46 states by showing the rest of the nation what they’re are doing wrong.
I guess that now we are 3 years down the road (so to speak), and the roads and bridges are failing, we can see that a raise in the gas tax was probably needed. If nothing else than for a rainy day. Queue the current flooding which has taken out many obsolete bridges and closed potfill ridden roadways. People are driving many miles out of their way if they can even find an open road.