In the next couple weeks, the Utah Department of Transportation will be asking local residents for their thoughts on toll roads.

UDOT is conducting public meetings to discuss the proposed Mountain View Corridor, which would provide a much needed alternate route between Utah and Salt Lake counties. It could terminate in either Lehi or near Pleasant Grove, but UDOT wants to know the answer to a larger question:

Are you willing to pay tolls to use it?

The idea is seductive -- but like seduction, it is wrong.

It ignores the fact that roads are public institutions that benefit everyone in general, not just those who directly use them. It's like schools or prisons: All of society benefits, so all of society contributes.

Even a senior citizen who no longer drives depends on Utah's road system. Trucks move groceries and other goods to local businesses over the roads. Roads are the arteries of a healthy economic system, and suggesting they should be paid for by direct traffic alone is a very pinched view indeed.

Since we all benefit from the roads, it is only fair that we all pay for them. Even Southern Utah would benefit from a Mountain View Corridor because it eases transportation. It's like a bypass around a badly clogged artery to one's heart. It sustains the whole body.

If a bypass connecting Salt Lake County to northern Utah County is a toll road, a fairness issue is created. The people on the east side would continue to use I-15 free even though they would have received a very great benefit of reduced traffic. Why should users of I-15 receive this windfall benefit at the expense of people who would use the Mountainview Corridor? They should not. The benefits -- and the burdens -- should be spread equally.

UDOT has been pushed into a funding box by the Legislature. The toll road concept has only come up because it is one thing UDOT can do on its own authority. A larger solution (read the right solution) needs to involve the Legislature, but the Legislature hasn't had the stomach for doing what it takes to solve Utah's transportation problems.

The fairest way to fund the Mountainview Corridor is to increase the sales tax and earmark the money. All Utahns pay sales tax, and they pay based on consumption. All consumption is tied to roads in some fashion. The gas tax could remain in place, and increased slightly.

We think the argument should end here, and the Legislature should get on with it. Toll roads introduce inequities and should not be established. Nor is it practical to pay with the gas tax alone.

The gas tax fails for other reasons as well, such as the emerging shift to alternative fuels. What happens to gas tax revenues when people start to purchase ethanol or plug their cars into electrical outlets? Endless tax tinkering will result. The gas tax is an ongoing headache that should be cured once and for all by shifting a significant part of the road funding burden to sales tax.

UDOT estimates that $16.5 billion will be needed during the next 25 years to address Utah's transportation problems. Even if this number is somewhat inflated, it is not going to go away. If we bury our heads in the sand, the part of us that stays above ground is simply going to get run over.

To move to sales tax, the Legislature has to get over two of its phobias: broad tax increases and earmarking of money. Taxes in themselves are not inherently evil. It is how the money is used that really matters. If a tax improves the general welfare, such as easing traffic congestion and improving the state's economic well-being, it is an investment, not a form of highway robbery.

Getting money where it is supposed to go is always a risk with the Legislature, but it shouldn't be. When Rep. Rebecca Lockhart, R-Provo, sponsored legislation creating a Transportation Investment Fund and diverting the state's share of automotive-related sales tax into it, some lawmakers were aghast. They viewed the earmarking of the money as tying the Legislature's hands and leaving it incapable of responding to a fiscal emergency. Lawmakers should be trusted, it was argued.

We disagree. Reliance on the kindness of politicians is always a bad idea. Dedicating funds to essential core infrastructure is a hallmark of fiscal responsibility.

A statewide sales tax increase is a fair and quick way to generate money for the much needed Mountainview Corridor. And the whole state would benefit.