The House Tax committee voted in favor of a bill Thursday that would repeal the one cent sales tax.

Governor Mark Parkinson and a coalition of Democrats and Republicans passed the tax increase last year in an effort to protect funding for education and public safety.

This year, newly elected legislators at the Capitol have pushed for a repeal of the sales tax while leading conservatives, including Governor Sam Brownback, have said the sales tax is necessary to balance the $490 million budget shortfall facing Kansas in fiscal year 2012. The bill will now move to the floor for full debate.

In other State house news, are solution to block Governor Brownback’s executive order abolishing the Kansas Arts Commission passed in a Kansas Senate committee Thursday.

The Governor signed an order in February turning the Commission into a501 (c) (3)  non-profit organization that would be part of the Kansas Historical Society. However, a financial analyst from the neutral legislative research department said that the plan did not contain enough information to answer the question of how much money Kansas would loose in matching funds from national and regional arts organizations.

The analyst, Shirley Marrow said, “There’s not enough information at this time in the Executive reorganization order to that answers the questions that they have as to the relationship they have between the State Historical Society and the 501(c)(3).”

The State currently receives 1.2 million dollars from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Mid America Arts Alliance.

The bill will now head to the Senate floor, where the Senate could block the Governor’s Executive Order.