It’s hard to be happy about the combination of tax increases and spending cuts that legislators put on the table Tuesday in Topeka. But some version of that unappetizing mix is the only realistic way to deal with the state’s ongoing budget woes.

Certainly the proposals that came out of the Senate Assessment and Taxation Committee and the Senate Ways and Means Committee are a more fiscally responsible way to approach the budget than Gov. Sam Brownback’s plan to postpone pension payments, raid highway funds, sell off assets, and then collectively cross our fingers that the economic growth he’s been promising for six years finally kicks in.

The state faces a combined $1.1 billion budget deficit in fiscal years 2017 and 2018. Brownback’s approach is a bandage that will only stop the bleeding for so long. Legislators are more properly taking a surgical approach to recovery.

The Assessment and Taxation Committee approved a bill that increases state income tax rates to generate $660 million in new revenue over two years. The bill reverses tax cuts and the controversial LLC tax exemption for 330,000 farmers and business owners that Brownback championed in 2012 and 2013.

Also on Tuesday, the Senate Ways and Means Committee backed a bill to cut $128 million in state aid to public schools and $22.7 million in funding for the states public colleges and universities.

There is nothing pretty about the cuts. The Lawrence school district would lose $2.75 million. The University of Kansas would tackle a $7.1 million hit — $3.9 million for the Lawrence campus and $3.2 for KU Medical Center.

But give the Republican leadership credit for following through on their promise to take a different approach this session, even if it meant breaking with Brownback. After a bruising primary in which more than a dozen conservative Republicans lost seats to moderates, Senate President Susan Wagle pledged that Republicans had heard voters loud and clear and that the party would lead the way on fixing the state’s budget this session even if it meant rethinking the state’s tax policies.

Republicans backed that up with what came out of committee on Tuesday.

The budget battle is just getting started; it remains to be seen if the proposals that came out of committee will look anything like the final budget bill that is approved. There are real concerns about K-12 funding cuts when the state Supreme Court still hasn’t issued a final ruling in response to a lawsuit over what is an adequate level of funding for public schools. Likewise, expect debates over whether the tax increases are too much or not enough.

But make no mistake, Tuesday’s proposals will trigger the kind of serious budget debate about taxes and spending cuts the state desperately needs to have.