by WILL FOLKS
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The last few months in South Carolina have made it abundantly clear which Republican leaders are fighting for taxpayers… and which ones aren’t.
While GOP and Democrat leaders in neighboring Georgia and North Carolina have worked together to provide relief for their citizens at the gas pump, in South Carolina – where “Republican” supermajorities control both chambers of the legislature and GOP politicians occupy every statewide executive office – nothing has been done.
In fact, these so called “conservatives” have been actively blocking relief…
Powerful GOP legislative leaders including House speaker Murrell Smith and ways and means chairman Bruce Bannister – along with governor Henry McMaster – have consistently opposed proposals to temporarily suspend the Palmetto State’s 28.85-cent fuel levy. They’ve also refused to approve proposed rebates for South Carolina families who are struggling to make ends meet amid soaring fuel costs.
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Conversely, S.C. attorney general Alan Wilson – the GOP nominee for governor of South Carolina – has been calling for the state to suspend the gas tax since March. Last month, Wilson upped the ante by arguing future governors (meaning him) ought to be permitted to suspend the levy for up to 120 days during periods of peak price increases.
McMaster has opposed that proposal, too.
This is exclusively an establishment Republican problem. After all, South Carolina Democrats – including state senator Russell Ott and state representative Justin Bamberg – have been pushing for gas tax relief even longer than Wilson, while the fiscally conservative S.C. Freedom Caucus and its leader, Jordan Pace, have been leading the charge for rebates.
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I introduced legislation to temporarily suspend SC’s gas tax because I thought @AGAlanWilson had the right idea. When that was blocked I proposed that we send what your family pays in gas taxes back to you. I’ll always fight to put your money back in your pockets! https://t.co/dbct8Cwj2k
— Jordan Pace (@Jscottpace) October 14, 2026
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Sadly, McMaster and state lawmakers have refused to act on any of these proposals.
That’s an inexcusable failure, but it becomes absolutely unconscionable when you consider what they’ve been blowing money on during the recent price spike – namely the passage of a $378 million pork barrel spending bill and a $150 million crony capitalist bailout snuck into the state’s $42.7 billion budget. That record-setting spending plan grew state government by $3.6 billion over the previous fiscal year, incidentally, an increase of more than 9%.
At a moment of peak pressure on consumers, in other words, South Carolina politicians were blowing every dime of new money that came into their coffers.
Even when gas prices are at normal levels, South Carolinians have historically suffered more at the pump than their national peers due to the state’s chronically low income levels – which force citizens to spend a higher share of what they earn on fuel costs. According to an analysis conducted last fall by FinanceBuzz, South Carolinians spent 2.82% of their income at the gas pump – well above the national average of 2.28%. Again, that’s when prices are at normal levels.
This month, another front has opened on the fuel tax divide…
Last week, U.S. president Donald Trump signed an executive order temporarily permitting highway use of tax-free dyed diesel, a move he claimed would “allow anyone to purchase tax-free red dye diesel for any reason.”
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RELATED | END THE INCOME TAX
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For those of you unhip to “dyed diesel,” it’s no different than regular diesel – it’s just been colored red to denote its status as tax-exempt for the purpose of agricultural use. In other words, if you’re using it on the farm – not on the highway – you don’t have to pay state or federal fees and taxes on it.
Why is the fuel dyed? Easy… to catch people who try to use it on the highway and avoid paying the tax.
In South Carolina, dyed diesel is exempt from the state’s aforementioned fuel levy. A separate statute exempts fuel used in farm machinery from the state’s sales tax – meaning if you buy dyed diesel for use on the farm, it is exempt from both the motor fuel user fee and the sales tax.
Over the last few weeks, Cody Simpson – the GOP nominee for commissioner of agriculture – has been drawing attention to the pernicious impacts rising diesel costs continue to have on South Carolina’s $52 billion a year agriculture industry.
“Diesel powers tractors, combines, trucks, and equipment,” Simpson wrote in a joint op-ed with Wilson last month. “It takes fuel to move seed, fertilizer, livestock, and crops. Our foresters depend on heavy equipment and transportation. Our truckers move the products South Carolinians depend on every day.”
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“When fuel prices rise, those costs do not stop at the farm gate,” Simpson and Wilson added. “They follow the supply chain all the way to the grocery store and the kitchen table.”
South Carolina farmers desperately want to see the state’s dyed diesel restrictions removed altogether – or at the very least temporarily lifted for non-farm vehicles that participate in the agriculture supply chain (i.e. moving food to market). Unfortunately, McMaster and Republican legislative leaders aren’t budging.
Why not? No one seems to know…
One strategist told us lifting restrictions on the usage of dyed diesel was “low-hanging fruit” for McMaster.
Will Trump push his longtime ally on this issue when he comes to South Carolina next week to campaign on behalf of another liberal Republican, Darline Graham Nordone? Don’t count on it. After all, the president has a documented history of misrepresenting McMaster’s positions on energy issues.
Not to mention a starring role in causing price spike…
Bottom line? South Carolinians looking for long-overdue relief from the oppressive crush of fuel price spikes should probably not get their hopes up. Help, sadly, is not on the way.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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