TOPEKA | Leadership of the Kansas House today released details of a plan that lowers tax rates while preserving many credits and deductions in an attempt to better help the poor and the working class.

The plan announced by House Speaker Mike O'Neal this afternoon would lower the tax rates for all three tax brackets. It would also direct all revenue growth over 2 percent a year into reducing income tax rates even further.

The House plan would keep many tax deductions and exemptions valued by taxpayers such as deductions for home mortgage interest and charitable contributions. It also would keep the earned income tax credit although it would be cut the benefit in half in 2014.

The House plan would let part of a 1-cent sales tax increase passed two years ago to sunset on schedule next year. The six-tenths of a penny is scheduled to expire July 1, 2013.

The House would phase in a plan to exempt limited liability companies and sole propietorships from income taxes.

Companies with profits less than $100,000 would be exempted from income taxes in 2013 to 2015. The exemption would increase to companies making less than $250,000 in 2016 and 2017. The exemption would apply to all businesses in 2018 and beyond.

House leaders also want to expand the so-called rural opportunity zone program, which provides financial incentives to lure people into areas that are losing population.

The House plan, which borrows an idea from the governor, would add 21 counties to the 50 that were approved by the Legislature last year.

The House plan presents an alternative to one put out by Gov. Sam Brownback at the beginning of this year's legislative session.

The governor's plan called for eliminating many tax credits and deductions to help pay for lowering tax rates. The House plan doesn't.

The governor wanted to eliminate the earned income tax credit, which allow the working poor to keep more of their money. The House will keep it intact for one year and then cut it during tax year 2014.

But the House plan is more generous to the poor the governor's proposal. The House plan would provide an average tax cut of $11.64 for for someone making under $25,000 a year. The governor's plan increases taxes on average by $156 a person in that bracket.

The governor also wants to keep the sales tax in place permanently, which put many conservatives lawmakers in the uncomfortable position of having to support something many of them promised to repeal during the 2010 election.

While initially billed as "revenue neutral," the governor's tax plan has a price tag of about $90 million in the first year. By comparison, the House tax plan is estimated to cost $41.7 million in the first year.