SALEM - Republican state Rep. Bob Jenson has watched as the state's money woes have forced cuts in health care and other services, and he's come to the view that a tax increase might be needed.

The Pendleton lawmaker hasn't found many kindred spirits among his GOP House colleagues, though.

"I'm sure I'm the only one willing to raise taxes," Jenson says.

In fact, one week into the 2005 legislative session, it does appear there's unbending, virtually unanimous opposition among House Republicans to anything smacking of a tax increase.

Senate Democrats, while not wanting to foreclose any possibilities, say chances of a tax hike are remote. And Democratic Gov. Ted Kulongoski is refusing to support any new taxes to ease a $1 billion shortfall.

It's quite a change from the 2003 session, when a revenue package aimed at forestalling cuts to schools, social programs and law enforcement bubbled just below the surface all session long.

In that year, Republicans and Democrats fought a protracted battle before agreeing in late summer to an $800 million tax hike - the core of which was a temporary income tax surcharge.

But anti-tax groups collected enough petition signatures to refer the tax increase to voters, who trounced the increase in a February 2004 special election. It was the second time in two years that Oregon voters had shot down a tax hike crafted by the Legislature.

The strong anti-tax mood of voters isn't the only thing having a chilling effect on any tax hike talk this legislative session.

The makeup of the House - where by law tax proposals must originate - has become much more hostile to tax increases since 2003.

That's mainly because some of the moderate House Republicans who joined with Democrats to support the tax increase have since left the Legislature. They included former Reps. Vic Backlund of Keizer, Lane Shetterly of Dallas, Max Williams of Tigard and Rob Patridge of Medford.

Senate Democratic Leader Kate Brown of Portland said that the more fiscally conservative bent of the House is the key reason she thinks that spending a lot of time talking about tax hikes this year would be futile.

"In 2003, you had moderate Republicans joining with Democrats" to support a tax boost, Brown said. "This year, we just don't have critical mass for a tax package."

Democratic Rep. Mark Hass of Beaverton puts it more bluntly.

"The chances are absolutely zero for any kind of income tax increase," Hass said.

A key Republican, Rep. Dan Doyle of Salem, said GOP House members are indeed adamant against any tax hikes. They believe that forcing Oregonians to pay higher taxes would hinder the fragile economic recovery that's under way in the state, Doyle said.

"It's not going to happen. We are steadfast," said Doyle, who is co-chairman of the Legislature's budget-writing committee.

And it's not just the idea of income tax hikes that generates strident opposition from House Republicans.

Advocates for schools and for social service programs that face cuts say lawmakers should consider ending some existing tax breaks, raising the corporate minimum tax and passing a small cigarette tax increase.

But Republicans say doing any of those things would violate the GOP's no-new-taxes stance.

Undeterred, anti-smoking groups plan to seek reinstatement of a 10-cent-a-pack cigarette tax that was snuffed out when voters rejected the $800 million tax hike last February.

The 10-cent cigarette tax was enacted by the 1993 Legislature to help pay for the Oregon Health Plan, but it died because lawmakers included it in their ill-fated tax hike package.

John Valley of the American Heart Association insists that the 10-cent cigarette tax was mistakenly taken away by voters and that reinstating it could generate $28 million for health-related programs.

Still, Valley said he's not optimistic about that happening, given the anti-tax mood that pervades the Capitol these days.

"It's going to be a difficult hill to climb," he said, adding that anti-smoking groups might take the cigarette tax issue to voters as an initiative measure in 2006.