The tax game Albany played for so many of former Gov. George Pataki's years seems to be continuing under Gov. Eliot Spitzer's leadership.

It's the game where the governor and legislators pass spending measures that keep income tax rates in check, even though spending grows well ahead of the inflation rate. They can then go on the campaign trail and boast of their strong record on taxes.

Of course they fail to mention that this is done by burying the true cost of these budgets in the details. You can count on higher fees for everything from the use of state parks to the registration of off-road vehicles. You can bet on seeing more mandated spending for local governments, mandates that make it nearly impossible for those entities to keep their own key revenue source - the property tax - under control.

All signs point to a budget for the state's 2008-2009 fiscal year that will again use this approach, perhaps more than ever. Consider some key facts heading into Tuesday, when Spitzer will unveil his budget proposal.

Spitzer has spent the first half of the month touting all kinds of new spending initiatives, including a $1 billion upstate revitalization plan. No one can argue with the stated goals of his proposals, but the governor has yet to explain how he will pay for them.

But in a budget he'll have to do that. And this budget will also need to address a $4.4 billion deficit for the current year, brought on by the declining economy and its impact on Wall Street.

And any budget proposed by a governor must be analyzed in the context of what always happens once the Legislature gets involved the process. You can count on lawmakers adding to a governor's proposal, and this year, with an extremely hard-fought election season looming, the amount of that extra spending could be substantial.

The truth is the state's $120 billion budget is filled with fat, mostly in the form of the giant bureaucracies you can find in those massive state office buildings throughout the Capital Region. We hope there's at least a few legislators out there who will find the courage to call for what is truly needed - actual spending cuts.