Topeka ? A bipartisan coalition on Friday was attempting to put the final touches on a $314 million tax increase and a delicately balanced budget to end the 2010 legislative session.

In the House, the group of nearly all Democrats and some Republicans was holding fast against deeper budget cuts sought by House GOP leaders.

State Rep. Kevin Yoder, R-Overland Park, called a proposed 1-cent increase in the state sales tax rate to support the budget a “job-killing tax increase.”

But supporters of the budget and tax increase said it is necessary to avoid devastating cuts to schools, social services, public safety and other areas, which have already been cut nearly $1 billion during a record budget shortfall.

The proposed tax increase, which has already been approved by the Senate, would raise the state sales tax from 5.3 cents per dollar to 6.3 cents per dollar for three years, and then decrease to 5.7 cents per dollar.

The measure has the blessing of Gov. Mark Parkinson, who has vowed to veto any more cuts to education or social services.

On Friday, the House debated all day a budget requiring approximately $300 million in additional taxes. The bipartisan coalition in the House was able to defeat numerous unfriendly amendments. The spending plan is similar to one approved by the Senate.

One of those was an amendment to cut $8.5 million that was set aside to increase the pay of some state employees to get their salaries closer to what the same positions pay outside state government. The amendment to cut, authored by state Rep. Peggy Mast, R-Emporia, was defeated.

Jane Carter, executive director of the Kansas Organization of State Employees, praised legislators who defeated the amendment.

“Should it have passed, over 6,000 state employees would have been denied equitable pay that had been overwhelmingly approved by the Legislature just a few years ago,” Carter said.

Meanwhile, the Senate spent Friday debating bills on casinos and a transportation plan. Legislative leaders said they hoped to wrap up the 2010 session today.