A deal may finally be possible in California’s months-long impasse over its budget. With a deficit in the tens of billions, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and state legislators have struggled to come to a budget that was due last July 1.

The problem is that California requires a two-thirds legislative majority to pass a budget. That means Democrats and Republicans must agree.

The sticking point has been that Republicans have refused to consider tax increases. They wanted only budget cuts. Schwarzenegger and the Democrats wanted all options on the table.

Now some Republicans are saying they will consider a tax increase, but they won’t call it that.

Why now?

“We’ve fundamentally altered the way in which Sacramento is going to be budgeted – and we will not have these problems again because of it,” said Republican Assemblyman Anthony Adams.

It is true that the hard-line the Republicans took is likely to implement some permanent spending cuts and a spending cap, but “fundamentally altered” Sacramento?

Hardly.

The financial problem is enormous for California government. Unless all sides agree to a stunning plan to address endemic budget problems, this mess will start over again in less than six months.

Republicans may think that a formula to limit government spending is “fundamentally altering” government, but the reality is when a two-thirds vote is required to pass a budget, the task is always going to be a Herculean effort.

Republicans know that they will have to agree to a tax increase to solve this year’s budget, but they still refuse to call it that. For them a “tax increase” is spoken as “additional revenues” – as if those words make it something it is not.