Mini-Editorial: Raise Taxes or Cut Services? Let Voters Decide

Here's the biggest political question in the upcoming 2010 legislative session: If legislators substantially raise taxes to help resolve an $850 million budget shortfall, will voters punish them in the election later in the year?

The conventional wisdom is that voters will hammer anyone who raises taxes. A Republican legislator who votes to raise taxes may even attract a challenger from the right. But there might be another approach . . .