Missouri is a low-tax state.  The Census Bureau ranked it 46th among the states in  state taxes per person for the year 2005.

That’s not a good thing if you’re poor and need health care, or a student hoping for a good education.   You’d be better off elsewhere.

But there is one benefit to putting government on a strict diet.  The people of Missouri do get good bang for the buck.

The latest evidence for that comes from the libertarian Reason Foundation, which last month ranked state highway programs for cost effectiveness.  Missouri ranked a respectable 13th in the ratings.  (Illinois, a moderate-tax state, was 34 in highway system efficiency.)

Using reports from the states, Reason ranked Missouri average or better on the condition of road surfaces.  Conditions on our rural interstates are actually among the best in the nation.

However, we ranked 33rd in fatality rates, 38 in urban interstate congestion and 40th in deficient bridges.  We also have lots of narrow rural roads with restricted vision or other design problems.  Missouri is 40th on that scale.

In Reason’s analysis, we erase a lot of those sins by being cheap and efficient.  Our spending per highway mile was the 11th  lowest in the country.  Our administrative spending was fourth lowest.  Summed up, we get middling results, but pay very little for them.

Think of that next time you’re stuck in traffic.