The House Revenue & Taxation Committee has voted along party lines in favor of HB 311, the sweeping tax bill proposed by House Majority Leader Mike Moyle, R-Star, and House Speaker Scott Bedke, R-Oakley, to lower the top income tax rate, remove the sales tax from groceries, and raise the gas tax by 7 cents a gallon. All Republicans on the panel voted in favor of the bill; all Democrats voted against. The voice vote followed a two-hour hearing that included objections to the bill from Catholic Charities, the Interfaith Roundtable Against Hunger and the Idaho Public Employees Association; support for it from the Idaho Freedom Foundation and the Gem State Patriot; and concerns raised about it by the Idaho Retailers Association and the Idaho Center for Fiscal Policy.

The bill now moves to the full House. Twin Falls Times-News reporter Nathan Brown has a full report here on his blog, "On the Agenda."