GOV.-ELECT Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. is heading toward inauguration day on a hazardous financial course. His determination to follow a cake-and-eat-it approach - no new taxes and no reduction in the most costly public expenditures - is simply not a responsible answer to the state's fiscal problems.

Lagging tax receipts leave this year's budget as much as $600 million short, and the projected gap for next year is twice that - $1.2 billion. Mr. Ehrlich plans to close it with a series of short-term measures: continuing a job freeze, transferring funds from unused accounts, imposing $350 million in license fees on slot machines and collecting the first trickle of income from the 10,000 machines as they move on line.

Mr. Ehrlich's money men say they don't know yet how much of the problem will be left in the current year's budget when Gov. Parris N. Glendening leaves. But they do say they can't close the entire $1.2 billion gap in next year's budget without substantial cuts in current programs.

As much as $500 million may have to be taken from existing programs to balance the books, they say.

But there's a much better, more reasonable way to solve the problem. Mr. Ehrlich should step away from his unyielding opposition to more taxes and consider proposals offered last week by a special commission appointed by the General Assembly. Its recommendations are prudent and necessary to avoid damaging important services.

First, the commission recommends an increase of 1 percentage point in the sales tax, from 5 to 6 percent. That would ease the budget-balancing chore considerably, raising $560 million. Applying the sales tax to various services, long overdue in Maryland, would raise even more money.

A personal income tax increase from 4.75 percent to 6 percent for those who earn more than $100,000 or $150,000 for a joint return would produce another $200 million. Such a tax was used to bridge a recession in the early 1990s. When the crisis ended, so did the tax.

Mr. Ehrlich has a chance to fix a fundamental problem created by Mr. Glendening and the General Assembly. They passed spending programs that outpace revenue by about 10 percent each year. It's called a structural deficit. It can't be fixed by pruning and transferring - unless the fundamental nature of government and the quality of life in Maryland are altered, and not for the best.

So far, the governor-elect's advisers are saying little about where they would cut - though Mr. Ehrlich caused high anxiety when he said aid to local governments will be tied to the Assembly's approval of slot machines. No slots, no aid. This warning was designed to win votes for slots.

Solving the problem need not be so unsettling. Efficiencies, re-organization and elimination of programs that don't work are welcome. New eyes and new ideas are needed. No one should dispute that.

The new administration may make government leaner and more efficient. But efficiency alone is not the goal. The goal should be a state government that responds effectively and compassionately to community needs: public safety, medical care for the poor, public education and other services that make us proud to be Marylanders.