Surprise, surprise.

A poll released Tuesday showed that Pennsylvania residents think dissatisfaction with taxes is the most important problem facing Pennsylvania today.

The Center for Survey Research at Penn State Harrisburg conducts an annual survey to gauge the opinions of Pennsylvania residents on the most important problems the state faces.

And according to this year's poll, 19 percent of respondents cited taxes as the most critical problem in Pennsylvania.

Nearly one-fifth of the commonwealth says that, above everything else, the current taxation system is the issue that concerns them the most. But what do they really want the government to do?

Do the people want the government to stop taxing them so that they can personally make the decision on the best way to spend their money? Do the people really want the government to give them such fiscal freedom when it means that public education and social programs will suffer as a result?

Have the people forgot about the real, current issues facing the state today, such as the high cost of both college tuition and medical malpractice insurance, and the state's inability to keep professionals here after college?

Let's get real -- there are more pressing issues.

While a Jan. 2 Philadelphia Inquirer article said the Mcare Fund, a state government program that pays malpractice awards and settlements, saw its spending drop to $232.6 million in 2005, down from $320.3 million in 2004, some doctors still find it financially difficult today to practice medicine in the commonwealth.

This ultimately limits the ability of residents to find decent healthcare providers.

With respect to college students, there are no more pertinent issues, and within the next five years, nearly every student at Penn State will be forced to deal with these concerns as they enter the real world.

As if that weren't reason enough to care, about 80 percent of undergraduate students are Pennsylvania residents, and these problems are undoubtedly affecting their families across the commonwealth.

Pennsylvanians need to wake up and realize that there are real problems facing them today, and complaining year after year about taxes and the like won't accomplish anything.