(AP) -- A compromise on the state budget may rest on whether South Carolina's small business owners get a tax break.

House Ways and Means Chairman Brian White said Monday that House Republicans are willing to hold up a spending plan for the fiscal year that starts July 1 to push for the tax break.

A panel of House and Senate members made little progress Monday on a budget compromise.

The House plan pays to immediately drop the income tax rate on small business profits from 5 percent to 3 percent. The Senate proposal provides for the first of a four-year phase-in.

Much of the behind-the-scenes debate is over using the budget to make permanent law. Legislators abandoned that option years ago, but the House wants to revive it for this issue.

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