Utah House members decided it was more important to eat than to attend the symphony when they passed a bill Wednesday that would remove the food sales tax from so-called "boutique" sales taxes.

The 47-19 vote in favor of HB282 means local transit districts and 11 other specialty sales taxes, such as those that fund the arts, will be reduced, giving most Utahns "a basic tax cut," if the Senate agrees.

"Some things are more important than other things up here," said the bill's sponsor, Rep. Merlynn Newbold, R-South Jordan. "And people need to eat" more than they need to hear the Utah Symphony, which gets local zoo, arts and parks tax revenues.

The bill would trim $20.5 million in various special sales taxes. But it would restore the revenue to rural hospitals and resort communities by granting $403,000 to affected hospitals and raising the resort sales tax from 1 percent to 1.1 percent.

But transit districts would still lose $17 million, municipal highway districts would lose $1 million, the county ZAP districts would lose $2 million and city ZAP districts would lose $275,000.

The bill's fate in the Senate is unclear. Although the GOP majority is firmly against further reducing the sales tax on food, Republican senators agreed earlier this week to at least consider what they prefer to see as a step toward a "streamlined" sales tax.

Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem, said the chief concern about the bill is the amount of money that local taxing entities will lose. Senators would like to make up all or part of the lost revenue, he has said.

Both House and Senate leadership have requested a detailed breakdown when they meet again next Tuesday to continue their negotiations on a tax-cutting package. The Senate is expected to hold any House tax-cut bills until an agreement is reached.

In the House, Newbold provided statistics that show all retail sales taxes in Utah have been gangbuster revenue sources over the last several years, bringing in double-digit increases not originally foreseen when local voters adopted the special sales taxes.

She said transit projects and services offered by taxing entities that receive the boutique taxes would continue. No one would get less tax money, some would just see slower retail sales-tax growth, she added.

But Utah Transit Authority officials say HB282 would actually have dire consequences for the agency, which is readying to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on commuter rail and expanding light-rail lines.

Most of their $17 million hit would come from funding that pays for operation of TRAX light-rail and bus lines, UTA spokesman Justin Jones said. The rest of the money would come from the recently approved sales-tax hike in Utah and Salt Lake counties to build rail lines.