Several weeks ago, House Speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy, and Urquhart suggested removing the sales tax from food and increasing the sales tax rate slightly on nonfood items so the state doesn't lose all of the $166 million the food tax brings in. Curtis even said he has the votes in the House to pass it.

Faced with two different plans supported by their GOP leaders, the task force clearly couldn't reach a consensus and opted to just pass along several options.

Not recommending a specific change, as the task force has done with its other proposals, "is a cop-out," said task force member Rep. Gordon Snow, R-Roosevelt. Snow said the task force, which includes House and Senate leaders from both parties, Huntsman chief of staff Neil Ashdown and Utah Tax Commission Chairwoman Pam Hendrickson, has a duty to be specific on which tax changes are the best.

Rep. Roz McGee, D-Salt Lake, a longtime proponent of removing the sales tax, was also disappointed the task force only passed a "concept" and did not support a specific proposal.

"Voting things out as a concept is an abdication of the responsibility we had as a task force," she said. "We've worked for seven months. . . . To vote things out that are concepts is a disservice to our fellow legislators and to the public."

Poll after poll has shown Utahns hate the food tax. A Deseret Morning News/KSL-TV survey by Dan Jones & Associates conducted earlier this month showed 38 percent favor cutting the tax while raising the rate on nonfood items slightly (so state programs won't suffer), 26 percent said the state should remove the tax and cut state programs as needed, while 18 percent said lawmakers should give a $75-per-person income tax rebate in lieu of actually removing the sales tax from food. Those options, and perhaps others, will now be considered by the 2006 Legislature.

How to help counties, cities, special improvement districts and the so-called "boutique sales tax" entities, like the Utah Transit Authority and ZAP, which also levy small sales taxes, must also be determined.

Salt Lake City, for example, would lose $3.7 million if it lost its share of the food tax and were not otherwise compensated. Some small communities, where local grocery stores generate much of the tax, would lose up to 28 percent of their sales tax revenue if the food tax were repealed.

Lobbyist Roger Tew said the Utah League of Cities and Towns must oppose removing the sales tax from food unless "we can find a plan that does not adversely impact individual cities economically." Unlike the state, local governments are not awash in surplus revenue.