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TOPEKA — A bill to increase wholesale taxes on alcoholic beverages with the aim of funding services for the mentally ill and developmentally disabled was tabled Wednesday by the House Taxation Committee.

House Bill 2593 was co-sponsored by Reps. Kay Wolf and Pat Colloton, both Johnson County Republicans, with the goal of restoring some earlier funding cuts suffered by programs that serve people that Wolf called, "ones we need to help more than almost anyone else."

Wolf, who serves on the tax committee, acknowledged the bill was unpopular with legislators who oppose raising taxes. She offered a motion to have the bill reported out of the committee without a recommendation on what the full House should do with it.

But Rep. Arlen Siegfreid, R-Olathe, objected, saying the House budget committee had offered no assurance that the money raised by the tax increase would actually be directed to benefit the mentally ill and developmentally disabled.

"This is certainly a feel-good vote," Siegfreid said, "but this tax increase is not likely to go where we intend it to go."

Rep. Anthony Brown, R-Eudora, also opposed the motion and illustrated it by telling the story of how he'd recently lunched with a business partner in a restaurant where the drinks were $11. The waitress, he said, was a doctoral student in economics who told him the same drinks were available in Missouri for $7. A tax increase, she told him, would "kill" the restaurant where she worked to put herself through school.

The bill has been strongly opposed by the alcoholic beverage industry.

Rep. Stan Frownfelter, D-Kansas City, offered a substitute motion to table the bill, which passed on an unrecorded voice vote.

But also on Wednesday, Senate Bill 569 was referred to the Senate Assessment and Taxation Committee. The bill, virtually identical to HB 2593, was introduced Tuesday by the Ways and Means Committee. The bill is scheduled for hearing Wednesday.