WASHINGTON – The Minneapolis bridge collapse that resulted in the deaths of 13 people is a tragic reminder of the necessity of investing tax dollars in infrastructure.

Immediately after the disaster, there were calls for increased funding to repair roads and bridges and, just as quickly, a backlash.

President Bush scoffed at the idea of rolling back his tax cuts. Conservatives were quick to point out that federal tax revenue actually has increased under Bush, due mainly to the economic boost of those tax cuts.

They did not have an explanation for why, then, no money is available to maintain our crumbling roads, bridges and highways and, thus, the lives of trusting, innocent travelers and commuters.

Yet, in 2005 the Republican-led Congress earmarked more than $300 million to connect an island town of 50 people to the mainland of Alaska. The “bridge-to-nowhere” incident redefined “pork” and became a national embarrassment.

Liberals – of which I am one – are accused of never seeing a tax increase they do not like. But at some point we must acknowledge that federal revenue keeps our public infrastructure safe.

Given Congress’ record of building “bridges to nowhere” when the ones to somewhere are falling down, it is easy to appreciate our impatience when real needs go unmet. The conservative ideology that somehow all our public needs can be met privately within the free market is a farce. Holding bake sales to pay for bridges the same way some communities are forced to raise money for schools is an untenable option. How many muffins does it take to build a bridge across the Mississippi?

Liberals do not want to see a new tax at the pump any more than the next person. When a minimum-wage worker needs an entire day’s wage to fill his or her tank in some parts of the country, we do not need to add to the burden. A tax on gasoline only punishes low- and middle-income families already strapped by the excessive increase in per-gallon prices.

Excessive increase in per-gallon prices? If the question is where we find the money to repair roads and bridges, there is the answer.

Seizing on catastrophes such as Hurricane Katrina and the war in Iraq, oil companies have increased the cost of gas to a national average of more than $3 per gallon and thus have posted record profits in each quarter for more than two years. It is only fair that, in the wake of this latest national tragedy, they give some of it back. It is time for a tax on the exorbitant profits of oil companies.

However, with all the support of the current administration behind oil companies and most of Congress accepting campaign support from them, a windfall profits tax is unlikely to see the light of day without sufficient public pressure. And even if it did, what’s to stop the oil companies from passing that new burden along to the consumer or deducting the cost of exploration or investments in refineries to mitigate any tax increase.

It is, nonetheless, time for Congress to step up to the plate, meet its responsibility, and pass a windfall profits tax with regulations stringent enough to protect consumers.

Ultimately it becomes about priorities. Are we willing to gamble that the bridges we drive across every day will hold up in order to save a few hundred dollars in our tax bills?

Or, perhaps a better question, will we continue to give Halliburton hundreds of billions in no-bid contracts to build roads and bridges in Iraq before we fix the ones here at home? There are false economies which deserve to be scorned.