Letter: Tax road usage, not gasoline itself

The South Carolina gasoline tax is efficiently collected at the pump and forces actual road users to pay for road construction and repair. We should continue this fair-minded principle, but emphasize that the original intent was to tax road usage, not gasoline itself.

Specifically, when the gasoline tax was last increased to 16.75 cents per gallon in 1987, best data I find indicates the average on-the-road passenger vehicle got about 14 miles per gallon. Today, 20 miles per gallon is more realistic.

Thus, the gasoline tax should be proportionately increased to 24 cents per gallon, reflecting no increase in actual tax per average road-mile. But this extra 7.25 cents per gallon would go a long way toward funding our road repair needs.

This story was originally published March 19, 2016 at 8:00 PM with the headline "Letter: Tax road usage, not gasoline itself."