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TOPEKA — Gov. Mark Parkinson says it is “unbelievable” the Legislature is considering granting more tax breaks amid the state’s most severe revenue crisis since the Great Depression.

Saying that the state had been on a “tax cutting binge” in recent years, Parkinson, on Friday, urged lawmakers to temporarily roll back $400 million in tax breaks to reduce the need for either tax increases or additional budget cuts in the 2011 budget year. He issued the call after ordering another $85 million in immediate cuts to deal with continuing revenue shortfalls. Parkinson is a Democrat.

House Speaker Mike O’Neal, a Hutchinson Republican, disputed the governor’s contention that tax cuts have contributed to the state’s budget crisis. He said that states with “a friendly business tax climate” recover from recessions faster than those with high taxes.

“Kansas would have been hit much harder in this recession if it were not for its proactive policies that have fostered a productive private sector,” O’Neal said in a written statement.

The House has approved House Bill 2538, which would allow qualifying businesses to keep 95 percent of the income taxes withheld from employees’ paychecks for five years. The legislation, which passed the House 84-27, would expand on a program created last year with the intention of encouraging companies to move jobs to Kansas from other states. The program is called Promoting Employment Across Kansas, or PEAK.

The PEAK bill is scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Commerce Committee at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday. It would initially cost the state an estimated $6 million a year. But the Kansas Department of Revenue projects the cost would grow to $33 million a year in five years.

“I don’t think that was the right thing to do with the state in the financial position that it’s in,” said Rep. Bob Bethell, R-Alden, who was among the few House members to vote against the measure.

Bethell said he agreed with the governor that the state has extended tax breaks to too many special interests. He said some lawmakers see tax breaks as a way to shrink state government.

“I think there are still some groups who would love to see government starve even more,” he said.

The House Taxation Committee last month rejected a non-binding resolution calling for a three-year moratorium on additional tax exemptions. Republicans on the panel said that spending, not tax cuts, was at the root of the state’s budget problems.

“If we were really serious, this bill would include a moratorium on spending,” said Rep. Arlen Siegfried, R-Olathe.

The recession and sagging revenue collections have forced state officials to cut about $1.3 billion in spending over the past two years. Even so, the state is facing a potential shortfall of $500 million in the 2011 budget year, which begins July 1.

Parkinson said that tax breaks given to “special interest groups” since the mid-1990s have been a big contributor to the state’s budget problems. He said the cumulative cost of the tax cuts was about $9 billion.

“But virtually none of that has been seen by the average person,” he said. “It has been seen by special interest groups that are powerful enough to have lobbyists come into this building and get what they want.”

Parkinson said he would likely veto the bill to enhance the PEAK tax credits if it reaches his desk.