SACRAMENTO (AP) _ Democrats and Republicans painted starkly different pictures of the negotiations over how to solve California’s budget deficit on Monday as a proposal to raise the state’s sales tax further clouded the already difficult negotiations.

The state was entering the second month of its fiscal year without a spending plan.

“We’re at an impasse,” said Assembly Minority Leader Mike Villines, R-Clovis. “The difficulties right now are very deep, and I’m hoping we can get past them.”

Democrats are seeking a combination of spending cuts and $8.2 billion in higher taxes on corporations and the wealthy. Republicans want long-term reforms to the state’s budget system and oppose any new taxes.

On that, “nothing has changed since June 15,” Villines said, referring to the constitutional deadline for the Legislature to pass a budget.

Meanwhile, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger floated the idea of a temporary sales tax increase to help close the $15.2 billion deficit when he met with legislative leaders Sunday evening.

Senate Minority Leader Dave Cogdill rejected the idea on Monday. He said the temporary nature of the tax increase was being proposed as a way to give cover to Republicans who might eventually vote for a budget compromise.

“A tax increase will worsen an already languishing economy. Housing values are plummeting, jobs are at risk, and everything costs more for the average Californian,” said Cogdill, R-Modesto. “I cannot envision any Republican legislator supporting such a proposal.”

Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear declined to discuss the sales tax proposal, saying budget negotiations were confidential. He said the governor remains optimistic that legislative leaders can reach a fair compromise.

Sources familiar with the budget talks who did not want to speak publicly for fear of upsetting negotiations said Schwarzenegger’s proposal would raise California’s sales tax by 1 percent for several years, then decrease it to an amount lower than it is now.

The state collects 7.25 percent in sales tax, with 1 percent of that automatically sent back to local governments. Many local entities also tack on their own increases, bringing the sales tax to more than 8 percent in many parts of the state.

The Democratic leaders of the Assembly and Senate said the sales tax proposal wasn’t theirs, but they did not reject the idea.

Steve Maviglio, a spokesman for Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, said Democrats have always said they’d consider any proposal but added that the sales tax “was not a part of our budget plan.”

“It’s not our idea, so it’s up to the governor,” to push Republicans to support increasing the sales tax, Maviglio said.

Lynda Gledhill, a spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Don Perata, said Democrats are still pushing to increase income taxes on the wealthy.

Still, Bass sounded more optimistic about the progress of the talks following Sunday’s meeting.

While Democrats oppose a firm cap on spending increases, she said they are willing to consider rewriting Proposition 58, the Schwarzenegger-backed rainy day fund voters created in 2004.

Bass, D-Los Angeles, said it could be strengthened to prevent the governor and lawmakers from easily transferring money out as they do now.

Schwarzenegger has said he will not sign a budget that fails to include structural reforms, which could include a spending cap and rainy day fund. The governor previously said he opposed raising taxes but has warmed to the idea as California’s budget impasse persists.

In an interview with The Associated Press in late July, he said he expected negotiations to be contentious and that everyone would have to give up something this year.

“You will get pushback no matter what you do, because it’s a crisis situation,” he said. “Some people will push back if you use the lottery, and other people will push back if we do the borrowing, and other people will push back big time if you raise taxes.”

Democrats were hoping to broker a deal that lets them boost taxes in exchange for reforms that would win over enough Republican votes in both houses to reach the two-thirds majority required to pass a budget. Republicans so far aren’t persuaded.

“We fundamentally do not believe in taxes and won’t go there,” Villines said. “We’ve not seen any language that would indicate they are serious about budget reform.”

The sentiment was not universal among members of his caucus, however. Assemblyman Tom Berryhill, R-Modesto, said some Republicans would compromise on their anti-tax stance if they saw real budget reforms, including a spending cap and a hiring freeze.

“With significant budget reform, with that I think everything needs to be on the table,” Berryhill said.

Schwarzenegger has grown frustrated by the delay and said he is worried the state will run out of cash if a deal isn’t reached soon.

He increased the pressure last week by signing an executive order that laid off more than 10,000 temporary, part-time and contract workers and could roll back the salaries of thousands more to the federal minimum wage of $6.55 an hour. They would be repaid after a budget was signed.

But the wage rollback seems unlikely to take effect. State Controller John Chiang, who issues employees’ paychecks, has questioned Schwarzenegger’s legal authority to order the temporary pay cut. On Monday, he repeated his contention that it would take months to reprogram his agency’s outdated computers to distribute paychecks based on the federal minimum wage.

At a hearing Monday, Chiang testified that it was unwise for the state to put its workers in financial jeopardy “for a situation that will be resolved in the next two or three weeks.”

He has said the state has enough cash to last through September. Nevertheless, he and administration officials have met with Wall Street investment firms to discuss loans that would get the state through until a budget is adopted.

Those loans could cost California hundreds of millions of dollars in additional interest and fees.

The clock is ticking either way. Bass noted that changes to Proposition 58 and a proposal by the governor to raise money by borrowing against future lottery profits require voter approval in November. The deadline to add initiatives to the ballot is Aug. 16.

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Associated Press Writers Don Thompson and Samantha Young contributed to this report.