COLUMBUS — House Speaker Larry Householder, trying to break a legislative logjam over the state's $1.5 billion budget deficit, has ended his insistence that the state hold a two-day sales tax holiday.

        Mr. Householder, a Glenford Republican, on Friday wrote Gov. Bob Taft and Senate President Richard Finan to tell them he had changed his mind.

Householder

        “In an effort to move us beyond our current negotiation impasse, I am willing to withdraw my insistence that the sales tax holiday be included in this plan,” Mr. Householder said in the letter.

        Less than a month ago, Mr. Householder insisted the idea was non-negotiable. “Having said that, I recognize the challenges we face in addressing Ohio's most recent budget problems,” he wrote Friday.

        Mr. Householder said he was encouraged by a recent federal proposal for a national sales tax holiday, which he said would be a better deal for Ohio because the government would reimburse states for lost revenues.

        U.S. Sens. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, introduced legislation this month to provide 10 days of tax-free shopping during the holidays.

        Mr. Householder recommended to fellow Republicans Mr. Taft and Mr. Finan that lawmakers agree to use a portion of the state's rainy day fund to pay for a state sales tax holiday if the federal plan falls through.

        House Republicans originally proposed the two-day holiday from state and local income taxes for late January for unlimited purchases of all goods except motor vehicles, boats and restaurant food.

        Senate Republicans approved a more modest version, limited to shoes and clothes with a $200 cap. Mr. Taft, who never took a position, said he was fine with Householder's announcement, a spokeswoman said Friday. A message was left with Mr. Finan seeking comment.

        Mr. Householder also is proposing reducing a 2 percent cut to state agencies to 1 percent.

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