Palmetto State motorists pay 28.75 cents per gallon today, up 12 cents from a decade ago
South Carolina drivers still pay less in state gasoline taxes than motorists in many parts of the country, but the Palmetto State is no longer near the bottom of the national rankings as it was a decade ago.
According to the Tax Foundation's latest figures, South Carolina's gasoline tax stands at 28.75 cents per gallon in 2026, ranking 30th highest in the nation. The state's diesel tax is also 28.75 cents per gallon.
A decade ago, the picture looked considerably different.
South Carolina's gasoline tax stood at 16.75 cents per gallon, placing the state among the lowest-tax states in America. Tax Foundation data from that period showed only Alaska and New Jersey with lower gasoline taxes than South Carolina.
What happened in between was not an accident.
In 2017, the South Carolina General Assembly approved Act 40, increasing the state's motor fuel user fee by 12 cents per gallon. Rather than imposing the entire increase at once, lawmakers phased it in at two cents per gallon each year for six years, beginning July 1, 2017. The final two-cent increase took effect in 2022.
The additional revenue was directed primarily to the state's Infrastructure Maintenance Trust Fund for repairing, maintaining and improving South Carolina's highway system. State officials estimated the legislation would ultimately generate hundreds of millions of dollars annually for road and bridge needs.
The result is easy to see at the pump. South Carolina's gasoline tax has increased 12 cents per gallon, or roughly 72 percent, from its level a decade ago.
For a driver purchasing 20 gallons of gasoline, today's state tax amounts to $5.75 per fill-up, compared with about $3.35 at the earlier 16.75-cent rate. That's an additional $2.40 in state gasoline taxes on every 20-gallon fill-up.
South Carolina nevertheless remains below several neighboring states. North Carolina currently taxes gasoline at 41.25 cents per gallon, Georgia at 34.05 cents, and Florida at 40.1 cents. Tennessee comes in slightly below South Carolina at 27.4 cents per gallon.
Nationally, the differences are even greater. California has the nation's highest gasoline tax at 73.64 cents per gallon, followed by Illinois at 70.4 cents and Indiana at 63.1 cents. Alaska sits at the other end of the spectrum at just 8.95 cents per gallon.
So while South Carolina's current 30th-place ranking still puts it on the lower side of the national ledger, that number tells only half the story.
A decade ago, South Carolina was sitting near the very bottom of America's gas-tax ladder. Since then, the tax itself has climbed by nearly 72 percent, carrying the Palmetto State much closer to the middle of the pack.
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Source: Tax Foundation, “Gas Taxes by State, 2026,” with historical data from Tax Foundation and information on South Carolina's 2017 Act 40 from the South Carolina General Assembly and Comptroller General.
