SALT LAKE CITY - The Utah Senate passed a proposed increase on the state??s sales tax on food from 1.7 percent to 4.4 percent, while offsetting it with a reduction on the sales tax on other purchases from 4.7 percent to 4.4 percent, the Salt Lake Tribune reports.

The bill now moves to the Utah House where it may be combined with other tax proposals.

"We??re running our state on sales tax only, so it??s a very volatile tax and we made it more volatile by taking the food out of the base," said bill sponsor state Sen. Stuart Adams. "This may not be politically correct ?? but it is financially correct. It is the right thing for the state of Utah and the right thing for our future."

Senator Ross Romero opposed the bill, calling it a manipulation of numbers that obfuscate the tax increase. "This is a tax increase on everybody because it??s a tax on food, which everybody consumes," he said.

Adams defended the bill, arguing that it does not disproportionately affect poor people, as some charged, and he left the door open as to whether to provide tax breaks to low-income individuals.

Utah is one of just seven states that impose a state levy on food. If the tax rate increases to 4.35 percent, it would be the second highest rate in the nation, behind Tennessee??s.