TOPEKA — As the prospect of deep budget cuts increases, does a tax increase become more appealing? Comments by House Speaker Melvin Neufeld, R-Ingalls, may signal a move in that direction.Neufeld told the Kansas Health Institute that there was “a good chance” a 75-cent per pack tax increase on cigarettes could pass.But Neufeld said any increase would be used to help fund Medicaid, and then back out general state tax dollars to fill in other budget holes.Lawmakers are facing a $137 million deficit in the current fiscal year, and a $1 billion shortfall in the next one.Gov. Kathleen Sebelius has told agencies to cut back 3 percent, but that will not solve the problem. She has said she will submit a revised budget to the Legislature when it starts meeting in January.Her budget director, Duane Goossen, has said some cuts will be more than 3 percent.”The decisions aren’t all made yet,” he told lawmakers earlier this week.Meanwhile, some Republican legislators are getting inpatient with Sebelius, a Democrat.State Rep. Jeff Colyer, R-Overland Park, issued a news release, saying, “The governor has the authority to implement the budget cuts she has requested, but she refuses to use her authority. She needs to act now.” Colyer recently won election to the state Senate and will take office in January.But earlier in the week, state Sen. Dwayne Umbarger, R-Thayer, who is chairman of the Senate budget committee, told Goossen that the Legislature needs to work with Sebelius to get the budget straightened out.”We have to work together,” he said.