TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The Kansas Senate has endorsed a cut in the state sales tax as members debate proposals from Gov. Sam Brownback to reduce income taxes.
The Senate voted 29-11 on Tuesday to reduce the sales tax to 5.7 percent from the current 6.3 percent in July 2013, adding the proposal as an amendment to a broader tax bill.
Debate on the bill continued, and senators expected to decide Tuesday evening whether to give the entire measure first-round approval.
The sales tax was raised in 2010 to help balance the budget, and is already scheduled to drop in 2013. But Brownback wanted to keep it at 6.3 percent to offset his proposed income tax cuts.
The bill in the Senate contained many but not all of Brownback’s recommendations on income taxes.