CHEYENNE - The Wyoming House of Representatives on Tuesday sent legislation that would permanently repeal the state sales tax on grocery food back to the House Revenue Committee for work to simplify it.

The Revenue Committee had recommended the full House consider a complicated package of amendments including a provision for the state to consider the financial effect of the food tax repeal in 2013.

The Legislature last year included a two-year repeal of the grocery tax in its general budget bill. But unless the tax is repealed permanently, it will return in 2008.

The Casper Star-Tribune reported Tuesday that 64 percent of Wyoming voters say that permanently exempting food from the sales tax should be the Legislature's top tax-cutting priority. The poll was conducted Jan. 9-11 by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research. The company surveyed 625 people, and the poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Rep. Rodney "Pete" Anderson, R-Pine Bluffs, chairs the House Revenue Committee. He strongly opposed the repeal of the food tax last year.

Several House members bristled at the Revenue Committee's proposal to reconsider the tax repeal in 2013.

House Majority Floor Leader Colin Simpson, R-Cody, said it was a "bit hypocritical" to seek to repeal the tax on groceries in one section of the bill and renew it in another section.

Rep. Pete Jorgensen, D-Jackson, questioned whether it's customary to insert "sunset dates" for tax exemptions into legislation. Noting the importance of the food tax bill, he said it was improper for it to come the House floor with four amendments, and suggested the Revenue Committee take it back to work it into a more understandable format.

House Speaker Tom Lubnau, R-Gillette, suggested sending the bill back to the Revenue Committee, "due to the volume and incomprehensibility of the amendments."

Anderson, who sponsored the bill, told House members on Tuesday that the legislation his committee endorsed would repeal the tax permanently, but require the Legislature review the tax again in 2013.

Anderson responded that Simpson was correct that the Legislature could renew the tax any time it meets, and accordingly didn't need to include the provision in the bill to revisit the issue in 2013.

Anderson apologized to the House for allowing the bill out of his committee when it wasn't ready for consideration. "We will bring out a bill that you will understand," he said.

After the vote, House Speaker Roy Cohee, R-Casper, said, "It was a classic example of a bill that came out of committee and the amendments were so varied and complex, it appeared like it was going to be too difficult for discussion on the floor."

Cohee said he would like to see the food tax repeal legislation be "as simple and as narrow as we can possibly make it."

Anderson said after the vote that he expects the Revenue Committee will discuss the bill again on Friday, which could see the bill come back to the House floor by Friday or Monday.

Anderson said he expects that the bill will provide local governments with an additional 3 percent of total sales tax collected by the state. He said they currently receive 31 percent, and that would rise to 34 percent under the bill.

Anderson said he expects the formula for distributing money back to local governments will be based solely on population.

Anderson said there was no effort on the committee's part to obstruct permanent repeal of the sales tax on food by presenting complicated amendments. "They were complicated because of the extent of them," he said.