Sanford eyes gas tax cut

State leaders may scrap the state's 16.75-cents a gallon gasoline tax during the summer months.

Gov. Mark Sanford this afternoon proposed eliminating the tax from Memorial Day to Labor Day, with dollars from the state's general fund used to replace the lost collections. The gas tax is dedicated to roads projects in South Carolina.

On the political side, Sanford's call for a cut comes a month before the primary election and as House leaders were mulling over taking action on their own. Some in Congress have talked of cutting the 18.4 cents a gallon federal tax for a time, replacing the revenue with higher levies on oil companies. That push has not advanced so far.

Regular unleaded prices in the Columbia market averaged $2.699 a gallon on Wednesday, according to the Oil Price Information Service. That's about nine cents more than a month ago and roughly 62 cents more than a year ago. The national average was $2.889.

The federal government expects fuel costs to remain high, though down a bit from current figures, through the summer. A projection issued Tuesday by the Energy Infomation Agency pegged the national average for regular unleaded at $2.71 a gallon.