With all the rhetoric flying between those who don't want to have their budgets cut and those who see cuts as inevitable, a distillation of the problem seems in order...

By Jon Ralston Las Vegas Sun

With all the rhetoric flying between those who don't want to have their budgets cut and those who see cuts as inevitable, a distillation of the problem seems in order. You've heard these are just reductions in increases, which are not cuts, a both appealing and disingenuous argument. Here's what happens: Nevada's governor has to fund "roll-up costs" in education and other services. That is, more students, more pupils, more Medicaid recipients. That costs a lot of money - about 80 percent of the infamous 2003 tax increase was for roll-up costs. When times are good, taxes aren't needed; when they aren't good, taxes or cuts are required. Times are not good now. So that is the decision the state faces. Taxes or cuts. Got it?