» House committee approves sales tax cut plan,

A Texas House panel voted out the lower chamber’s $4.9 billion tax cut package Thursday.

The Ways and Means Committee unanimously approved House Bill 31, which would reduce the state’s 6.25 percent sales tax rate to 5.95 percent. The measure would save the average family of four $172 per year, according to Committee Chairman Dennis Bonnen, R-Angleton.

The panel also approved House Bill 32 to cut the business franchise tax rate by 25 percent across the board, on a 7-2 vote. Democratic state Reps. Trey Martinez Fischer of San Antonio and Chris Turner of Grand Prairie opposed the measure.

The two bills now head to the full House, where Bonnen said they are sure to win approval.

“I don’t vote bills out of committee that we don’t expect to receive support on the floor,” he said.

The package’s fate is far less clear in the Senate, which already has passed a much different mix of tax cuts. While both chambers’ $4 billion-plus packages include cuts to the franchise or “margins” tax, about half of each of them are made up of either reductions to the state sales tax (House) or school property taxes (Senate).

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who presides over the Senate, and Bonnen have been trading public barbs in recent weeks about whose plan is superior. After Gov. Greg Abbott declined to pick sides Wednesday, Patrick drew a line in the sand, saying he wouldn’t support a budget that doesn’t include property tax cuts — one of his campaign promises.

Bonnen said he’s not sure when his tax cut package will be put to a vote in the House, but said it would come “sooner than later.”