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If state lawmakers had to pass a 2015-17 budget today, they would first have to dig out of a $642 million hole, the Legislative Fiscal Bureau reported Thursday.

That amount is about the same as was projected when lawmakers passed a third round of tax cuts earlier this year, drawing down a nearly $1 billion surplus that resulted from better-than-expected revenue growth.

The amount of the so-called “structural deficit” is about one-third of what it has been heading into a biennial budget cycle since 1997.

The one exception was heading into the 2013-15 budget, when the state was projecting a $146 million structural surplus.

The structural deficit is a theoretical figure that projects no additional economic growth or changes in spending from current law. It includes a $226 million deficit in the 2015-16 fiscal year and a $416 million deficit in the 2016-17 fiscal year.

If state revenues grow at the historical 10-year average of 3.4 percent, the state would start the next budget cycle with a $1.7 billion surplus, said Laurel Patrick, a spokeswoman for Gov. Scott Walker. A 1.4 percent growth rate would eliminate the deficit.