The Des Moines Register’s Iowa Poll found that 70 percent of Iowans oppose an increase in the gasoline tax. That’s not surprising. Nobody likes higher taxes, and our car-based society is especially sensitive to the price of gas.

But it’s also discouraging, because gasoline tax revenues go toward maintaining the state’s extensive road system, and that’s just about the most direct result you’ll get for any taxes you pay. It’s great to get serious about cutting government spending, but we have other things to get serious about, too.

High on the list is the need to take a more realistic approach to maintaining infrastructure. According to the Iowa Department of Transportation, the state has more than 114,000 miles of public roadways, and the U.S. Department of Transportation puts our inventory of bridges at more than 24,600. Throw in our weather extremes, and imagine the deterioration. We’re already giving up on a few stretches of rural blacktop and patching there with gravel instead of asphalt.

The Register also noted that our total taxes per gallon of gasoline are 40.4 cents – that includes federal as well as state levies – which is below the national average of 47.4 cents. Our tax load for gasoline is less than any of the surrounding states except Missouri.

Paying taxes can be frustrating when the money disappears into the state’s large general fund or the vast federal budget. Some of it goes to expenditures you oppose. But paying money to fuel your vehicle and seeing that money spent on the roads and bridges you travel, that’s as basic as can be.

Throwing money at problems doesn’t always work, but starving our problems of money won’t work, either. We’re facing scary deficits and debt, but not just because we’ve spent too much. We’ve also made mistakes in choosing how to allocate that spending.

Basic highway transportation will be a proper place to invest our taxes for a long time to come.