LINCOLN, NEB. ? Don’t tell Rebecca Rogers that a sales tax on soft drinks is no big deal.

The 30-year-old Lincoln restaurant manager routinely drinks five to 10 cans of pop a day, she said.

“Who’s to say soft drinks aren’t essential?” said Rogers, fittingly sporting a Pepsi sweat shirt.

State senators have taken notice of the money people like Rogers spend on soft drinks and other sweet treats.

Those sugary comfort foods may wind up helping to remedy the state’s $761 million budget shortfall.

The Legislature’s Revenue Committee last week advanced a bill (LB759) for debate that would impose the state’s sales tax on a variety of goods and services currently exempt. The tax would take effect Oct. 1 — the same day the state’s sales tax will drop a half-cent to 5 cents per $1 — and would include soft drinks, candy, repair labor, newspaper advertising supplements, some construction labor, pet grooming, detective services and campsite fees.

The bill also would indefinitely extend Nebraska’s temporary 64-cent tax on cigarettes.

All told, the tax proposal would raise an estimated $160 million during the next two years. Tax on soda and candy alone is estimated to bring in $14 million, and likely the one Nebraskans would notice most.

Some Nebraskans support what many have dubbed the “sweet-tooth tax” — especially if it might prevent further budget cuts.

Alice Peterson, a 79-year-old retiree, said such a tax would be better than raising the state’s sales tax, which would affect everyone.