By Bill Davis, senior editor | Gary Simrill is a car guy who hopes to convince new Gov. Henry McMaster and the legislature to raise the gas tax in a state that’s home to the deadliest roadways in America.
Simrill, a Republican state representative from Rock Hill, has owned Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Rolls Royces, Bentleys.
As the owner of a high-end specialty used car boutique, Simrill bought former NFL quarterback Jake Delhomme’s Aston Martin Vantage when he left the Carolina Panthers. He even owned for a time the Porsches driven by country star Shania Twain and “X-Files” star Gillian Anderson.
These days, Simrill, now the House Majority Leader, drives a comfy Tahoe, and is driving the effort to raise how much the state charges per gallon of gas, which has been untouched for the past 30 years.
Kia or Cadillac?
In 1987, then-Gov. Carroll Campbell convinced everyone to raise the per-gallon levy to 16.7 cents. It has stayed put in tax-averse South Carolina ever since, despite the state’s growing infrastructure needs.
It’s an oft-repeated story around the state that the Department of Transportation needs a minimum of an additional $1 billion a year over the next quarter of a century to repair and maintain the state’s roads and infrastructure system.
That’s to get the “Kia” of roads systems, according to one state official. To get the “Cadillac” of roads systems, it’s going to take more like $1.5 billion annually – and this is in a smaller state that has the fourth largest roadway system in the country and a General Fund budget of about $7 billion annually.
And $1 billion doesn’t go as far as it used to. Department of Transportation Secretary Christy Hall last week told members of the House Ways and Means Committee that $1 in new money in 2017 would only build 47 cents of roads in 1987, as roads funding hasn’t even kept up with inflation.
Road to salvation?
Last week, Simrill put forward a bill, H. 3516, that would look to supply DOT with a little more than half of the money it needs to buy that Kia of roads systems.
The bill would look to create a “sustainable” and dedicated funding source for roads to replace the legislature’s habit of the past few sessions of only using leftover, one-year surplus funds to put Band-Aids on the wounded system.
If passed as initially submitted, H. 3516 would be phased in over a five-year period, and would render a little more than $600 million annually for roads – not the full trip, but a good first step, argued Simrill this week from his Columbia office.
The bill would:
- Increase the motor fuel user fee two cents a year until 2022, resulting in $401 million by year five,
- Increase motor vehicle registration fees, resulting in $25 million a year,
- Charge $60 a year and $120 a year for hybrids and electric cars to offset their roads use, bringing in $1.35 million,
- Eliminate the current motor vehicle sales tax, and replace it with a 5-percent “fee” capped at $500 upon sale, resulting in $70 million
- Charge taxpayers with vehicles purchased out of state but registered in South Carolina a similar 5 percent fee, capped at $250, resulting in $120 million annually,
- And charge a “motor carrier road user” fee on all truckers using South Carolina roads, in lieu of property taxes, in hopes of capturing some out-of-state money.
The pitch
The bill has already garnered support from Ted Pitts, the CEO of the S.C. Chamber of Commerce, and several taxpayer associations, as well as trucking and manufacturing associations.
Simrill’s pitch includes protecting the state’s vaunted credit rating, which could suffer if the state doesn’t take care of what many consider to be one of its core duties.
If the bill were successful, it would represent a U-turn in state tax policy, and would have to pass muster with McMaster, who many see as more open to suggestions from the legislature than was Haley, who was just sworn in as this country’s ambassador to the United Nations.
Reached late Thursday night, McMaster’s chief of staff, Trey Walker, said the governor “looks forward to meeting with House leadership to learn about their proposal.”
Reading between the lines, it appears McMaster is willing to listen, not reject a gas tax increase outright like Haley did.
In a speech delivered right after his swearing in, McMaster listed improving the state’s “roads and highways” first on his priorities list.
Experience = Good
While Senate Minority Leader Nikki Setzler (D-Lexington) said he has yet to speak with McMaster on the gas tax issue, he said he was very optimistic to see how the new governor handles it.
Setzler, who supplied the political push in recent years for at least the Band-Aid money for roads, said multiple times during McMaster’s tenure as lieutenant governor, McMaster had the opportunity to ignore Senate rules and play politics instead. But each time, to McMaster’s credit, Setzler said that he followed the rules and worked every time in the state’s best interest.
Additionally, Setzler said McMaster’s years of service as the state’s attorney general and lieutenant governor have given him a deeper knowledge of the process of governing.
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