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TOPEKA — The Kansas House made relatively quick work Tuesday of the session's first major tax bill to be debated on the floor of either chamber.

Members voted to postpone action on it until May 3.

House Bill 2549 would have netted the state about $127 million more for the treasury by repealing several popular sales tax exemptions, including one allowed for churches and other religious groups.

The biggest of the exemptions marked for repeal was one that exists for the purchase of residential utilities such as heating fuels and electricity. Ending that exemption alone would have generated more than 80 percent of the bill's revenue.

"On the back of churches"

But Rep. Jeff King, R-Independence, launched the debate by offering a series of amendments that stripped the bill of its major repealing sections and in the process made it clear that anti-tax Republicans were trying to get Democrats and moderate Republicans on the record as having voted to take away popular tax breaks. This is an election year for the House.

King's first amendment was to continue the sales tax exemption for churches.

"This is bad policy," he said of the bill. "It balances the budget on the back of the churches."

King is vice-chairman of the House Taxation Committee.

Republicans called for a roll-call or recorded vote and King's church amendment was adopted, 119-0.

He then offered an amendment to keep intact the exemption for the sale of lottery tickets and bingo cards. That vote also was roll-called and the amendment was approved, 121-0.

King's third amendment kept intact the exemption for residential utilities. That one also passed, 121-0.

His fourth amendment removed everything from the bill except for repeal of the exemption for coin-operated laundries. That also passed, 121-0.

"Way too early"

Rep. Nile Dillmore, D-Wichita, took the floor at that point and offered a motion to postpone the vote on the legislation until May 3.

Dillmore said the House budget committee still hadn't completed its work and it was too soon in the session to know the specifics of final revenue projections for fiscal 2011, which begins July 1.

"It's way too early to be asking this body what we're going to do with tax policy," he said.

The state is expected to be about $450 million in the red so spending cuts or tax increases or a combination will be necessary to keep the state budget balanced as required by the Kansas Constitution.

Gov. Mark Parkinson, a Democrat, has called for about $400 million in tax increases to avoid deeper cuts to schools, social services and public safety programs. Policymakers have already reduced state spending by about $1.3 billion over the past two years.

GOP leaders in the Senate have called for $300 million to $350 million in tax increases. But House Republican leaders have continued to insist that raising taxes when the economy is weak is a bad idea and they have called for more spending cuts.

So far, House budget committees haven't produced a plan for cutting enough to keep the state in the black.

Republicans faulted the Democrats for calling or tax increases but then voting against them first chance they got.

"Gotcha politics"

But Democrats and moderate Republicans said anti-tax Republicans had the cart before the horse. It made no sense to vote for taxes, they said, until the Appropriations Committee finished its work and legislators knew how much would be needed to fill whatever budget hole exists.

Rep. Jim Ward, D-Topeka, said at this stage of the game Republicans were simply trying to get Democrats on record for voting against popular tax breaks.

"This is politics at its worst," he said. "This is gotcha politics and the people of Kansas deserve better."

But Rep. Peggy Mast, R-Emporia, a member of the Appropriations Committee, said the panel couldn't make good spending recommendations without knowing how much money there will be to spend.

Rep. Don Hill of Emporia, who was among the handful of mostly moderate Republicans who agreed with Dillmore's motion to postpone action on taxes, said by May lawmakers will have the final revenue estimates going into the new fiscal year and also will know if $120 million in expected federal Medicaid assistance is actually going to arrive.

"We have a conundrum," he said. "None of us is very excited about raising taxes. None among is very excited about making (spending) cuts. I think a prudent approach is some mix."

"What's right, not what's left"

Even as House members were debating when they should debate taxes, about 1,000 people from across the state were gathered outside the Statehouse rallying for tax increases on behalf of schools.

The governor and Democratic legislative leaders urged the crowd to spread the word that without more taxes schools would suffer.

The governor spiced his speech with the refrain printed on some signs seen in the crowd: "We want what's right, not what's left."

Also on Tuesday, two Senate committees continued to take testimony on tax proposals.

In the Senate Assessment and Taxation Committee, members heard from those for and against increased taxes on alcoholic beverages. Wednesday the committee will hold a hearing on a bill to tax sugar in soda pop and other sweetened drinks.

In the Senate Ways and Means Committee, supporters of some of the same sales tax exemptions discussed on the House floor made arguments for keeping them as the panel considered Senate Bill 476, the Senate's counterpart to the House bill.