The state budget battle resembles a Kabuki dance. No sooner do Democratic lawmakers, who control the Legislature, challenge Republicans to present an alternate spending plan than Democratic Senate Majority Leader John Burton of San Francisco and Democratic Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson of Los Angeles trash it as a ploy to persecute the poor.

Senate Minority Leader Jim Brulte, R-Rancho Cucamonga, and Assembly Minority Leader Dave Cox, R-Fair Oaks, counter that Democratic lawmakers are hopelessly addicted to higher and higher taxes to pay for bigger and bigger social programs.

As expected, the Senate yesterday torpedoed a GOP plan to pare the budget $2.7 billion beyond what the Democrats requested.

Meantime, California is lurching toward insolvency while Wall Street ponders downgrading the state's already low credit rating to junk-bond status. It's time for the grown-ups in Sacramento to get a budget done before the cash-strapped state, which is already running on empty, shuts down.

The key to any budget accord lies in the Senate. Despite their philosophical differences, Burton and Brulte genuinely respect one another. That's crucial because any tentative agreement depends on mutual trust. Both lawmakers understood early on that the budget deficit could not be resolved without a rollover.

The hitch at this point is how to finance the $10.7 billion in rollover bonds without a tax increase. Enter the "tax swap," wherein the state would receive a half-cent larger share of the sales tax, while local government's take would be pared by a like amount. Cities and counties would be compensated with $2 billion in property taxes from the state. Sacramento in turn would be obliged to replenish those funds, which currently go to schools, through deeper cuts or a tax increase.

Once the partisan rhetoric subsides, we believe this will be the vehicle by which both sides reach a budget deal. Brulte last week asked the governor's office to run the numbers on a half-cent tax swap. Earlier this week, Burton hinted a compromise was possible. After conceding that some of the GOP's proposed cuts were promising, he predicted that the two of them "will sit down and work out a deal if we can."

Any such accord is certain to frustrate lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. Democrats abhor deeper cuts, while Republicans bristle at a tripling of the vehicle licensing fee. But there comes a point where fiscal reality must take precedence over political roughhousing.

That time is now, because the state needs to sell $3 billion worth of securities by early September just to keep operating. The transaction process alone will take at least six weeks. What's more, Wall Street isn't going to be in the market for those securities without a bona-fide budget in place. That means a sound spending plan based on credible cash-flow estimates and structural reforms. It most certainly doesn't mean a get-out-of-town-alive budget brimming with gimmicks.