South Carolina drivers are paying $4.03 a gallon for regular gasoline while diesel prices were also high, according to AAA fuel price tracking from this month. The spike has ignited a political fight over whether the state should temporarily suspend its gas tax, with Governor Henry McMaster refusing to budge even as candidates in both parties call for immediate relief.
Wilson Wants Emergency Power to Suspend the Tax
Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate Alan Wilson wants McMaster to call state lawmakers back to Columbia to suspend the gas tax right now, and his campaign has gone further, proposing legislation that would give future governors standing authority to suspend the tax for up to 120 days during extraordinary price spikes without needing lawmakers' approval, according to FITSNews. Under current law, only the General Assembly can alter motor fuel tax rates, and legislators are not currently in session, per WYFF. A campaign spokesperson said Wilson believes the governor should be able to act quickly when fuel prices reach unsustainable levels, WYFF reported.
Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Annie Andrews has also weighed in, backing what she calls an all-of-the-above approach that includes suspending gas and diesel taxes, cutting other taxes, or sending money directly back to families, per the station's report. Rep. Stephen Frank, R-Greenville, told WYFF the tax shows up at the pump because wholesalers pay it and pass the cost to retailers, who then pass it on to consumers.
McMaster Says Road Money Isn't Up for Grabs
McMaster has flatly ruled out calling lawmakers back to suspend the tax, telling reporters Tuesday that cutting the gas tax would cut into money used to build roads, according to the same account. Gas tax suspension has been pitched by lawmakers for months, but when McMaster was asked about tapping non-road funds instead, he said officials should be careful about spending crisis and emergency funds — which are typically reserved for actual emergencies — on a gas-tax reduction, per WYFF.
Procedural attempts during the regular session to force a vote on suspending the tax were blocked, according to FITSNews reports. South Carolina's motor fuel user fee sits at 28 cents a gallon, a rate reached through Act 40 of 2017, which phased in a 12-cent increase two cents at a time until it was fully implemented in July 2022, according to the SC Comptroller General. Combined with a 0.5-cent environmental impact fee and a 0.25-cent inspection fee, the state's total tax and fee burden on gasoline comes to 28.75 cents per gallon, per the South Carolina Department of Revenue. A tax credit that once let drivers offset some of that cost through the Safety Maintenance Account closed in January 2023, leaving no active state tax break for vehicle owners, according to state records.
Pace Pitches Rebate Checks Instead of a Tax Cut
Rep. Jordan Pace has proposed a different fix entirely: sending $300 rebate checks to households with dependents and $200 checks to every other household that filed a return, funded by a roughly $500 million plan the SC Freedom Caucus says would not require raising taxes or disrupting the state's existing gas-tax obligations. Pace's proposal, detailed in a letter sent to the State House this month, would fund the rebates by removing non-essential earmarks and reclaiming 90% of unencumbered carry-forward balances sitting in state agency accounts, according to FITSNews. Pace said a direct rebate would return money to the people who actually paid the tax instead of spreading it across political projects, WYFF reported. Frank called Pace's plan one of the better proposals for creating a direct impact on citizens, and the rebates could be delivered by mail or folded into 2026 tax returns.
Wider Pressures Behind the Pump Price Fight
The debate is unfolding against a backdrop of broader financial strain: a 2025 FinanceBuzz study found South Carolina drivers spend 2.82% of their monthly household income on gasoline, well above the national average of 2.28%. Neighboring Georgia has suspended its 33-cent fuel tax, a comparison FITSNews notes is complicated by the fact that Georgia's governor holds broader emergency tax powers than South Carolina's. U.S. Rep. Russell Fry has joined the relief push at the federal level, introducing legislation this month to temporarily suspend the federal 18.4-cent-per-gallon gas tax, according to FITSNews.
South Carolina's gas tax funds billions of dollars in road projects statewide, which is precisely why the fight over touching it has stalled: any relief plan has to reckon with bonds and infrastructure commitments tied to that revenue. Hoodline has previously reported on how a South Carolina transportation bill could authorize tolled choice lanes while the existing gas tax cannot cover major projects, underscoring the broader debate over transportation funding.
