In a continuing struggle over the state's $3 billion budget crisis, Ohio lawmakers last week found out the hard way that easy fixes won't work.

House Republicans' proposed 2004-05 budget-balancing centerpiece, cutting $1.4 billion from the $2.4 billion in funds to cities, counties and libraries, met with a storm of criticism. Lawmakers heard predictions of libraries, firehouses and other critical services shutting down.

So it was back to the drawing board for budget-writers, who propose $1.8 billion in cuts, including more than $1 billion from education - $785 million from public schools and $347 million from higher education.

But as we've already seen, there are cuts, and then there are cuts. These are reductions from Gov. Bob Taft's 2004-05 budget proposal, which increased spending about 9 percent over the previous biennium. Taft had already figured in nearly $600 million more for K-12 from 2002-03 and about $180 million for higher education. So the House's actual dollar-amount cuts are not nearly as severe as they look, but plenty serious for school officials who had planned on much more.

House leaders are showing an increased willingness to nibble at spending - other parts of their $1.8 billion cut would eliminate a few programs and abolish a commission or two. But the other part of their budget "fix" is gimmicky. Again, they have proposed a "temporary"1-cent sales tax hike for one year with an option for a second year. The catch: Voters would have to OK video slot machines in Ohio racetracks - an idea Taft vows he will veto anyway - to waive the increase's second year.

Let's say it again: A "temporary" sales tax hike is a farce. Such increases have a way of becoming permanent. Solving Ohio's deficit through its sales tax as presently constituted would be regressive and unfair - unless it is part of what a Taft spokesman called "meaningful tax reform."

Legislators caught up in details of the budget plan du jour should not forget that Taft has outlined a detailed, fundamental reform of Ohio's tax system - corporate and income taxes, as well as sales taxes. They should take his ideas to heart, and add whatever spending caps and program eliminations they need to come up with a balanced, fair plan.