Polls show little hope for more highway taxes

One of the biggest challenges facing the current session of the Missouri Legislature is how to pay for maintaining the state's highways and bridges and how to find the money for new construction.

Legislators and Missouri Department of Transportation officials likely won't find much comfort in recent surveys that show Missourians -- particularly Southeast Missourians -- don't favor tax increases or tolls.

The American Automobile Association's poll and an online survey by semissourian.com, the Web site of the Southeast Missourian, both showed an unwillingness to pay more taxes for road improvements, even though nearly three-fourths of the respondents said highways are only fair or poor.

All of which leaves everyone who would like to see better roads scratching their heads.

It's obvious that a better job of educating taxpayers will be necessary if officials plan to seek voter approval for higher fuel or sales taxes for highways.