TOPEKA � Gov. Sam Brownback expressed confidence Monday in closed-door discussions with individual legislators about options for resolving the state�s budget problem was preferable to the executive branch setting a grand solution in concrete.



�We�ve been floating different ideas,� Brownback said in an interview. �This is really the time that the Legislature�s really got to come around.�



The Senate committee with jurisdiction over tax policy didn�t convene, but their Republican counterparts in the House shook the Capitol�s foundation by proposing a six-element plan that raises state taxes $500 million annually. It would strike the entire deficit in the upcoming fiscal year and produce an end-of-year balance of $100 million in June 2016.



A bipartisan majority on the House Taxation Committee voted to overhaul the income tax exemption awarded to 330,000 business entities. This piece of 2012 tax reform represents the top supply-side economic policy achievement of Brownback�s first term.



In one sweep, the House panel agreed to dump the exemption and apply a 4.6-percent tax on business rents and royalties and a 2.7-percent tax on other business income. This shift would raise $133 million for Kansas� cash-strapped government.



The broad package before the committee � debate resumed this morning � wouldn�t touch laws from 2012 and 2013 that reduced individual income tax rates.



Solution to the quandary in 2015 is likely to undergo revision before embraced by the House, Senate and Brownback.



�We�re going to have to do some work on tax policy and some work on tax brackets,� said Rep. Ronald Ryckman Sr., R-Meade.



Democrats long ago concluded the business tax break touted by Brownback was inequitable, while Republicans in favor of retrenchment, including Wichita GOP Rep. Mark Hutton, said the tax policy hadn�t lived up to hype.



In the 2013 tax year, less than 2 percent of exempted businesses claimed more than half the $205 million surrendered by the state. Twenty-eight percent of businesses covered by the exemption lost money, and the state law forbid them from claiming $52 million in losses.



�We have an opportunity to do what�s right,� Hutton said. �We have to be as fair as we can.�



Several GOP legislators on the House committee expressed irritation the 2012 business tax reform was on the chopping block.



�This looks really foolish,� said Rep. Marc Rhoades, R-Newton. �It really looks bad. It looks schizophrenic.�



�I don�t think we�ve ever passed a tax increase this big on small businesses,� said Rep. Kasha Kelley, R-Arkansas City.



Under other pieces of a solution outlined by Rep. Gene Suellentrop, R-Wichita, lawmakers could fill the budget hole with votes to raise:



� $127 million by boosting the sales tax to 6.5 percent, up from 6.15 percent. The rate on grocery food purchases would fall to 5.9 percent.



� $81 million by hiking the gasoline tax 5 cents per gallon to 29 cents. The rate would fall to 24 cents in two years.



� $60 million from imposition of a new fee on health maintenance organizations.



� $53 million through a 75-cent per-pack raise in the cigarette tax. This would nearly double the tax to $1.54 per pack. Brownback wanted a $1.50 tax hike on each pack.



� $50 million by accelerating to 2015 a reduction in itemized deductions scheduled to take effect in 2017. This was sought by Brownback.



Brownback declined to reveal contents of his private tax-reform suggestions, but broadly endorsed the state�s effort to transition from the income tax to the sales tax for financing state government.



�My years in this building have said the best thing for me to do is try to encourage people to come together around something. Not to be generally out there saying, �You ought to do this or not do that,� � the governor said.



In January, Brownback recommended speeding up the shrinkage in itemized deduction tax benefits and increasing by $100 million annual taxes on cigarettes and liquors. In addition, his administration speculated $30 million might be collected with a tax amnesty initiative.



On Monday, state budget analysts updated the pending deficit in the fiscal year starting July 1. Approximately $400 million of the gap between revenues and expenses has been dealt with by lawmakers, which left a deficit of $406 million to be closed by tax hikes or spending cuts. Previously, the shortfall was estimated to be $420 million.