During the GOP Caucus lunch Tuesday, House leadership gathered co-sponsors for the tax bill as members ate chicken and macaroni.

"The House and the governor are coming together on a unified tax reduction plan," said state Rep. Tom Keegan, R-Surfside Beach, who signed onto the bill. Lower income taxes benefit residents and make the state more attractive to companies considering moving to South Carolina, Keegan said.

That's pretty much the same thing Sanford said as he campaigned for governor two years ago.

Sanford's plan calls for reducing the state's income tax from 7 percent to 4.45 percent during the next 10 years. But the reduction can only come if the state Board of Economic Advisors says tax collections will grow by 2 percent or more.

Sanford's office would not comment about the legislation. The governor and House Speaker David Wilkins will appear at a joint news conference with other House members Tuesday. Wilkins and Sanford spokesman Will Folks won't say what will be discussed, but House members say it's the tax plan.

As for the tax proposal, "we're continuing to work on it," Wilkins said.

Sanford has pitched raising the state's cigarette tax to reduce the income tax. But lately no one has been talking about raising cigarette taxes.

While the budget was being debated in the Senate last year, Sanford proposed increasing the cigarette tax 53 cents a pack and using the money to cover Medicaid programs while gradually lowering the income tax. But that measure failed on a 28-17 vote.

The Legislature has no shortage of tax proposals to debate this year. Most of those plans involve raising the state's sales tax to reduce or eliminate taxes on cars or homes.

While it is unclear what the Senate will do with tax reduction proposals, the Republican House majority is more likely to be able to go home and tell voters they tried to cut taxes.