Kansas Lawmakers Eyeball Sales Tax Hike

(AP) – Republican legislators in Kansas are moving toward increasing the state’s sales tax to help close a budget shortfall while also reducing the tax on food.

The House and Senate tax committees reviewed multiple proposals Tuesday for raising revenues to close a projected $406 million deficit in the budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

No plan emerged from either committee.

But Republican legislators kept coming back to proposals to raise the state’s 6.15 percent sales tax.

The House committee considered and rejected proposals to boost the tax to 7.15 percent and 6.8 percent, but members planned to review more alternatives Wednesday.

The Senate committee plans to debate a proposal to raise the sales tax to 6.5 percent.

Both committees are considering proposals to drop the sales tax on food.