At this time of year, many of us are thinking about taxes. Maybe you’re thinking about what to do with the refund you expect, or the new federal tax rebates that will start coming in May; maybe you’re wondering if you missed any deductions or how to have more withheld so you don’t pay again next April.

What we often don’t think about is what the taxes we pay actually provide for us. A few years ago, I was driving my two young sons to the store to purchase toys. They had been saving money for the coveted items for months and were excited to finally reach their goal. It wasn’t until they were in the car that the issue of taxes came up, and they started recounting their money to determine if they had enough to pay the sales tax on the items. And then the complaints started: “I hate taxes, why do we pay these anyway?” I took this as an opportunity to explain the importance of taxes, something we all tend to forget at times.

Taxes are the way our community pools its resources to pay for things we cannot do alone. Taxes pay for the fireman who one day might carry your spouse to safety; the public school teacher who spent extra time teaching your child algebra; the road that transports your business’ products to customers; they assist with services to help our families stay healthy, and support many other services we often take for granted. As Franklin Roosevelt said, “Taxes, after all, are dues we pay for the privileges of membership in an organized society.”

The governor has recently called for further state tax cuts. He asks you to believe that being a “low tax state” is good for Missouri. But, as the saying goes, we should be careful what we wish for. As taxes decline, services do too. Missouri is already one of the lowest tax states in the nation, ranking 40-something in nearly every category. As a result, our services have slipped dramatically.

Missouri now ranks 46th lowest for state and local spending per capita; 44th lowest for K-12 education spending; 46th lowest for higher education spending, causing tuition at public universities to skyrocket; and we have one of the lowest eligibility levels for health care for working parents in the nation, resulting in a 15 percent increase in the number of uninsured in the last year alone.

There is a difference between being responsible with our limited resources and the taxes our families contribute, and diminishing our state’s funding to the point that community needs cannot be met.

What Missouri leaders should instead focus efforts on is not how to reduce taxes, but how to create a tax structure that is both equitable and adequate to meet our needs. During these difficult economic times, we must be sure critical state programs that provide safe transportation, quality education and health care services are not depleted any further.

Amy Blouin is the founder and executive director of the Missouri Budget Project.