Having killed the governor’s proposal to raise the state sales tax by 1 percent for three years, the House Tax Committee now has an obligation to come up with a better plan to balance the state budget and preserve essential services.

During his State of the State address earlier this month, Gov. Mark Parkinson invited those with better ideas to put them forward. Now is the time.

Although some committee members suggested simply deferring action on the sales tax proposals, a majority voted to simply kill it. It was reported that the vote essentially followed party lines, with Democrats wanting to defer and Republicans voting to simply reject the measure. It’s always a little disappointing to see a straight party line vote on such an important issue. It makes it seem that their decision was based primarily on the politics rather than on the merits of a measure.

The committee chairman said the group will continue to consider other tax bills and may schedule hearings on proposals to remove various sales tax exemptions. Perhaps some combination of those measures will be enough to address the state’s $400 million budget shortfall without Parkinson’s sales tax proposal. That would be nice, but it won’t be easy.

A majority of the tax committee apparently thinks it has a better plan. They have a little time to come up with one, but it’s now their responsibility to put a plan on the table. The state — and especially every Kansas entity that receives state funding — is waiting.