Nikki Haley Is Flipping On The Gas Tax … Again

For months, S.C. governor Nikki Haley‘s website has touted her opposition to raising gas taxes … well, at least raising them by more than ten cents a gallon.

“If we raise our gas tax by more than 10 cents per gallon, we will equal or surpass Georgia’s tax level and lose our competitive advantage,” Haley’s website once declared.

Not anymore, though.  With State Senators pushing a “compromise” tax swap – as opposed to Haley’s preferred tax swap or a pair of “Republican” tax hikes – the governor’s website has reportedly undergone a scrubbing.

“On the morning of the unveiling of the Senate Republican plan, Haley’s website was wiped of all content tied to her roads plan and replaced with unrelated content,” noted Jamie Murguia, director of research at the S.C. Policy Council.

Specifically, Haley’s objection to gas tax hikes greater than ten cents has disappeared … along with her language insisting that any offsetting income tax relief be automatic (i.e. not subject to repeal at a later date).

Wait … what?

That’s right: At the very moment State Senators have proposed a 12-cent gas tax hike in exchange for income tax relief that is far from automatic, Haley has removed her objections to these two critical policy points.

Translation?  You’re about to get screwed … and Haley isn’t going to do a damn thing to stop it.

Prior to her 2014 election, Haley was an opponent of gas tax hikes … under any circumstances.  Four months ago she flip-flopped, announcing her intention to support an immediate ten-cent increase in exchange for the promise of income tax relief down the road.

Now?

The governor is scrubbing her website in an effort to remove the ten-cent cap she originally insisted upon – as well as her insistence that offsetting income tax relief be guaranteed.

“According to the governor’s own pronouncements, the new plan would put the state at a competitive disadvantage with our neighboring state, and would fail to guarantee tax relief,” Murguia wrote.  “That should be enough to force the governor to oppose this plan, and veto it if the legislature passes anything resembling it.”

Indeed …

Unfortunately, judging by the governor’s curiously timed website scrubbing …  it looks as though her anemic veto pen is going to remain in its desk.  Which means dirt poor South Carolinians – who already pay a higher percentage of their incomes on fuel costs than residents of any other state save Mississippi or West Virginia – are about to see annual gas tax increases with zero income tax relief to show for it.

Oh, and nothing resembling real reform of our state’s failed roads system …

Sheesh.  Once again, South Carolina’s “Republican” leaders are failing the people of this state in every way imaginable.  At a time when gas prices are once again starting to creep back up.

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