State sales tax revenues are declining in South Carolina and that’s just the beginning. According to a researcher with the Rockefeller Institute, income tax collections (along with sales taxes, the state’s other major source of revenue) will continue to fall as taxpayers experience further personal declines in investments or lose their jobs.

Thus the governor’s proposal that lawmakers return to Columbia to deal with the latest revenue estimate decline from the state Board of Economic Advisors is starting to look like a good idea, despite the obvious downside of the cost of such a move.

A Wednesday e-mail from the governor’s office continued his contention that the legislature “grew government faster than the economy,” although this is an old argument that can be considered little more than a continuation of the battle of wills between the two branches of government.

His desire, and that of some lawmakers, to reverse the BEA’s earlier 2 percent across-the-board budget cut and start over with targeted cuts, is too restrictive. Those cuts should stand and additional targeted cuts should follow.

At present, $420 million must be cut from the state’s $7 billion budget to balance. This is in addition to $210 million (the 2 percent across the board) ordered in August by the BEA.

BEA chairman John Rainey told reporters following the announcement of the further decline in revenue projections that, “the consumer has quit spending. The consumer is scared.”

That’s not really news. Consumers who were personally experiencing job losses and declining income levels realized early on that belt-tightening wasn’t just a good idea, but a necessity. Peace of mind may have been the first motivator, now survival is the stronger of the two.

While Sanford’s call for the legislature to return to Columbia prior to the election may be politically motivated in its timing, we can’t find fault with addressing this downturn as quickly as possible.

Further delays could mean even deeper cuts as a nervous populace becomes even more inclined to postpone spending, sending sales tax revenues even deeper into decline.

And that could lead to even worse projections not just for consumer services but for our most important obligation, public education of our state’s children. The legislature’s now infamous tax swap removed property tax revenues from school operating costs and increased the sales tax by one penny to support schools. In what turned out to be a vain attempt to discourage the legislature from this swap, we wrote that something as important as education should not be subject to consumers’ fears or buying whims.

We can also look to the state’s cuts negatively impacting local governments’ abilities to satisfy consumers both in services and fiscal responsibility.

The stock market’s impact nationally means it is time to be even more attentive to our state budget.

And the time to do that is today, not tomorrow.