"I'm well aware of the realities as it relates to both of those," he said. "Therefore I'm not going to be averse to looking at a total tax package that we're able to work on that might play out over the course of one year, this legislative session and the next legislative session."

The governor did not discuss his proposals for individual income or sales taxes at the conference, but told the Deseret Morning News after his presentation that he supported broadening the sales tax base by taxing services in addition to goods — just as Walker proposed.

But taking the sales tax off food, a campaign pledge, is also still on the table, the governor's spokeswoman, Tammy Kikuchi, said. While he was running, Huntsman called for phasing out the tax on food over four years because it is the "most regressive of all taxes."

As for individual income taxes, the governor said he did not believe setting a single rate for individual taxpayers — a flat tax — would work. "The income tax will likely fall," Huntsman said. But he declined to describe how the rates should be restructured.

Other priorities the new governor raised during his presentation included ethics reform. He said much of what he intends to introduce this session will focus on the executive branch.

Term limits may be part of the package. Huntsman has repeatedly said a governor should not serve more than two terms, for a total of eight years. After that, he said, a governor will "run out of energy."

Former Gov. Mike Leavitt was in his third term when he stepped down in 2003 to join the Bush administration, making Walker, who'd been his lieutenant governor, the state's chief executive.

Huntsman has already taken heat for firing some of Leavitt's longtime appointees in the Department of Community and Economic Development. Some of those let go had served in their posts through most of Leavitt's terms.

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E-mail: lisa@desnews.com