For months, Gov. Ed Rendell has been saying that an increase in the state income tax would be a "last resort" in closing the state's $3.2 billion budget deficit. Last week, Rendell came to the new Westinghouse headquarters in Cranberry and said he was proposing a 16.5 percent hike to the state's personal income tax.

But despite the looming June 30 deadline for a budget agreement, it's too early to start talking about last-resort solutions to the budget crisis.

The June 30 budget deadline has not been met since Rendell took office. So, Rendell and the General Assembly are clearly comfortable ignoring the budget deadline.

No doubt, work to close the budget gap has been going on behind the scenes for weeks, if not months. But still, Rendell and the Legislature seem to be going through the motions, waiting for the real crunch time when they can apply maximum leverage with dire predictions of massive layoffs or damaging budget cuts.

Based on the repeated failures to pass a budget on time, there's a clear need for a law withholding pay from lawmakers and the governor until a budget is passed.

Whether such a provision would produce on-time budgets is unclear. But what is clear is that to most taxpayers it still doesn't look like the governor or the Legislature is serious about cutting spending.

The governor offered early cuts and has proposed more, but many of those seemed designed to extract the loudest public outcries in hopes of winning the public relations battle. And in some cases, his proposed cuts have been offset by increased spending elsewhere.

The legislature has been silent about any sacrifices and cost-cutting that lawmakers themselves can contribute toward a balanced budget.

Republicans reportedly are determined to fight any broad tax increase, and House Minority Leader Sam Smith, R-Jefferson, dismisses the governor's cost-cutting efforts to this point, saying, "He's not looking at tax increases as a last resort; he's looking at it to continue excessive spending."

Indeed, the governor has posted a record of significant year-to-year spending increases. According to the Commonwealth Foundation, between fiscal years 2002-03 and 2008-09, state spending grew by nearly 36 percent, twice the 17 percent inflation for that period.

The Commonwealth Foundation also noted that the governor's proposed 2009-10 budget represents a 4 percent increase over the revised prior year budget, adding that taxpayers are not convinced that the budget has been cut as much as possible.

Taxpayers will not, and should not, accept any broad-based tax increase while there are more opportunities for spending cuts. And, taxpayers should demand that the Legislature step up and offer not only more from the $750 million Rainy Day Fund, but also send to the Department of Revenue most of the $200 million held in the Legislature's so-called leadership accounts, which are commonly described as slush funds.

Beyond that, the Legislature can and should cut the cost of its own operation by $50 million or more. Cutting $100 million would bring the General Assembly's annual cost of operation in line with the cost of running New York's legislature.

In prior years, the perennial political posturing and layoff threats coming from the governor and legislative leaders were merely annoying. This year, with the budget crisis deeper than ever — and widely predicted for six months or more — it is inexcusable to be engaging in the same petty bickering.

And though it can't happen quickly enough to solve this year's budget crisis, the sale of the State Store system would bring about $1 billion to the state Treasury, a significant cushion to soften the impact of the loss of temporary federal stimulus funds.

It's too early to consider Rendell's "last resort" of a boost to the personal income tax. If the governor and state lawmakers had worked responsibly on the budget for the past six months, the final 10 days before the state-mandated budget deadline might be a time for last resorts.

But they didn't, and it's not.

The governor and the Legislature have failed to do serious cost-cutting or make sacrifices of their own to help close the budget gap. Apparently, the June 30 budget deadline means nothing, and progress will only be made sometime in July when the state bureaucracy actually begins to grind to a halt due to diminished legal capacity to spend money.

It's a shame the Legislature and governor have not been able to do the most fundamental job of passing a state budget for the past six years. This year's budget gap was forecast eight months ago, and there is no excuse for missing yet another June 30 deadline.

As the budget deadline comes and goes, voters and taxpayers should continue to make it clear that not enough has been done to avoid Rendell's last resort of a personal income tax increase.

Most lawmakers in Harrisburg probably understand that. If they haven't yet gotten the message, now is the time to make it crystal clear.