But Bramble also said he believes the governor and lawmakers will find common ground, even though "with these new revenue estimates, it's fair to say there are some legislators who want to see a tax cut."

He said he believes that cutting taxes can stimulate the economy. Economic development was the governor's top priority during his campaign, and making the state a more attractive place to do business was a chief reason for establishing the task force.

Huntsman, though, suggested the state may be better off investing more to reduce the number of Utahns without health care. "I know it's not traditionally a Republican thing, but for me it's a very important thing," he said.

So is closing the so-called achievement gap in education — the differences in academic performance between ethnic minorities and whites, and between low-income and more well-to-do students.

"I'm sure there are going to be issues like this that are probably going to cause me to stray some distance from the Legislature," Huntsman said, predicting he could be at loggerheads with lawmakers next session.

The governor may have some allies, despite what's being described as a "small but strong segment" of lawmakers in both the House and the Senate who have already decided they want tax cuts.

"I think it's a little premature to say, 'OK, it's time for a tax cut,' " House Speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy, said. "We've had some pretty lean years, and there are some things that probably ought to be looked at before we say tax cut."

After all, Curtis said, no one talked about raising taxes during the last few years when revenues were down. "We were not jumping out there and doing tax increases," he said. "This is all cyclical. We need to make sure we've addressed all the important issues."

Unlike the governor, though, the House speaker said he wanted the task force to come up with an alternative to a revenue-neutral plan. "We need to have those numbers so we can see the cost," Curtis said.

But it will be up to the Legislature, not the task force, to decide whether taxes should be cut, and if so, where. Curtis, who is not a member of the task force, said he doesn't "want the tax reform process to turn into the budgeting process."

The task force is expected to be ready with its recommendations this fall, in time to be reviewed by legislative interim committees before the next session of the Legislature convenes in January.

"Time will tell on the tax policy side," Huntsman said of the debate over whether government is growing too quickly. "What I am struck by and always have been since day number one is how rapidly we're transforming as a state.

"And you can't grow and transform as a state without looking at tax policy and without fundamentally expanding the economic base to pay for it. We'll have expenses that we probably never envisioned before," he said. "It shouldn't come as any surprise."

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