April 26, 2009.

That is the last day of the Legislature under the state Constitution. Lawmakers must address a deficit of more than $8 billion.

Not surprisingly, no one in Olympia wants to be on record as saying some program should be trimmed — or cut entirely. You don’t make friends or get re-elected that way. Nevertheless, that is really the only issue that lawmakers face: What has to be cut?

Legislators have toyed with the budget issue. Some have proposed higher “sin” taxes. It sounds good and even raises a few bucks here and there. There is also the idea of more “fees” for some services. Lord forbid that someone equate this with an actual tax — which, of course, it is.

However, this is merely nibbling around the edges. The big bites into the budget are yet to come. Republicans and Democrats will find them unappetizing. Still, that is about the only thing on the menu.

Some say the solution is a tax increase. The idea seems to be that those who have something, regardless of how much, should pay extra to those who have less.

In a normal world, this might hold true. That is how we mostly get tax increases. We give up some of what we have to help others.

But we are not in a normal world right now. Everyone is going to have to make do with even less.

That is happening daily in the private sector. A recent news story tells how companies, hit again with medical cost increases, are passing the costs on to employees — even though they just did the same things mere months ago. Few workers in the private sector are seeing a wage increase. In fact, some are facing wage reductions just to keep their jobs. The average worker wasn’t that flush before. He or she certainly isn’t now.

This state, and this country, face a financial situation unlike most have ever seen. Those who faced the Great Depression are mostly gone. These are new and scary times for the rest of us.

We will pull out of this recession (we are reluctant to use the “D” word), but it will take time and pain. Our parents and grandparents overcame worse times. They did it by making do with less, often a lot less.

Now it’s our turn. The Legislature needs to acknowledge and accept this, then get to the task of trimming and cutting our state budget.

There is no magic here. Just hard decisions.

Craig Groshart is editor of the Bellevue Reporter, a sister paper of The Mirror. Send comments to editor@federalwaymirror.com