Days after the shooting of a congresswoman and 19 others in Arizona focused the national conversation on the divisive character of political rhetoric, the talk on the opening day of the General Assembly session in Annapolis was all about cooperation and comity. Gov. Martin O'Malley told newly sworn-in state senators that they need to show "leadership in a new area" in the way lawmakers treat each other. Senate Minority Leader Allan Kittleman pledged that Republicans are committed to working with Democrats, not against them, to solve problems, and Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller said that "in these very tough times, we need input from both sides of the aisle."

The upshot? Mr. Miller was unanimously elected to his post as Senate president, avoiding the token protest votes against him from Republicans in past years. But as far as unity and common purpose go, that may be about all we see.

Governor O'Malley will be inaugurated for his second term in a week, and his budget proposal for the next fiscal year is due two days after that. He has said it will not include proposals for any tax increases, and has repeatedly warned that it will be so ugly that the General Assembly will rise up and demand a different way to balance the books — presumably through tax increases, which Mr. O'Malley says he wouldn't necessarily veto.

Tactically, that sounds like a higher-stakes version of the maneuver Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake used last year to build support for a package of tax increases to help soften the cuts that were necessary to close the city's budget gap. The difference is that she laid out her doomsday budget full of cuts to police and fire departments as a placeholder until she proposed her tax package several weeks later. Mr. O'Malley, however, has pledged to skip the second part of the tactic and leave the development of any plans for tax increases up to the legislature.

Senator Miller and House Speaker Michael E. Busch said yesterday that they don't plan to play along. Mr. Miller called an increase in the alcohol tax, which a large number of delegates and senators (though not quite a majority) have already pledged to support, "nonsense." He threw cold water on the idea of a gas tax increase, too, even though he has supported it recently. Mr. Busch said he won't push for tax increases either. The prevailing attitude seems to be that if a movement for tax increases is going to come, it will have to come from local government officials, presumably in response to cuts in state aid for schools and other vital services.

Local governments will no doubt start looking around to find someone they can pass the buck to as well.

That's backwards. Budget and tax policy in this state comes from the governor. If he believes that the budget he is set to propose is the best way to set Maryland on a sound fiscal course, he should say so and defend it. If he believes some degree of tax increases — whether to alcohol, gasoline, marginal income over $1 million a year, or anything else — would be less damaging to the state than the cuts that would otherwise be required to balance the budget, he needs to say that and rally Marylanders and their elected representatives behind the cause.

Instead, he's been acting like a detached observer of the process, saying Tuesday that he and legislators "need to keep an open mind" about "cuts … consolidations, eliminations, revenues — whatever it may be." His passivity on this issue is reminiscent of his stance on gay marriage — if the General Assembly passes it, he'll sign it, but he's not going to take the lead.

Mr. O'Malley should remember what he did four years ago, when he eyed another billion-dollar budget gap and proposed a comprehensive solution for closing it: a mix of cuts, tax increases and new revenue from legalized slot machines. He built support for the package and pushed it through the legislature. Rather than punishing him for raising taxes, the voters of Maryland returned him to office this year by double his previous margin of victory.

Tax increases on the order of those Mr. O'Malley proposed in 2007 would clearly be a mistake in the current fragile economy. But given the magnitude of cuts that will be needed to set the state on a sustainable fiscal path, Mr. O'Malley could certainly make the case that, for example, raising the alcohol tax for the first time in decades would do less harm to the state than increasing class sizes or eliminating after-school programs. But he needs to be the one to make it. Senator Miller had it right Wednesday: "If he wants to be a leader, he needs to lead."