HARRISBURG -- A proposal for a 16 percent increase in the state income tax is dead because of pressure from Western Pennsylvania lawmakers, House Democratic leaders said today after a five-hour budget debate on the House floor.

"They wanted us to take the PIT (personal income tax) off the table," said House Speaker Keith McCall. "We have taken it off the table."

Rep. Nick Kotik, D-Robinson, held a powerful bargaining chip in the form of a budget amendment he had planned to introduce today. The amendment, which Gov. Ed Rendell threatened to veto for lack of sufficient school funding, would have called for $27.5 billion in state spending for fiscal 2009-10.

However, Mr. Kotik, leader of a group of conservative House Democrats called the Blue Dogs, withdrew the amendment in exchange for a promise from Democratic leaders that they would not pursue the three-year, 16 percent increase in the state income tax, which the governor has been strongly advocating.

"My goal was to take the PIT increase off the table. I was looking for ways to do that," said Mr. Kotik, who was joined in opposition to the tax increase by numerous Western Pennsylvania Democrats, including Reps. Harry Readshaw of Carrick, Dom Costa of Stanton Heights, Bill Kortz of Dravosburg and Tony DeLuca of Penn Hills.

"In this economy, an increase in the income tax was not going to fly in our area," Mr. Readshaw said.

Gov. Rendell insists that the Legislature must find some form of recurring revenue to balance the budget. Without an income-tax increase on the table, that leaves options such as postponing a planned phase-out of a tax on businesses' assets, or eliminating some sales tax exemptions, increasing tobacco taxes, enacting a new tax on natural gas or legalizing table games in casinos and video poker in bars.

Also today, the House today rejected a last-ditch Republican effort to pass a $27.3 billion budget proposal, leaving on the table a $27.1 billion plan that Gov. Rendell has promised to veto down to bare bones, allowing for state workers to be paid and basic state health and safety functions to continue but little else in the way of state services.

That means lawmakers would still have to come back to negotiate a new full-year state budget. But the state's 77,000 employees -- including lawmakers themselves -- could soon collect back pay for payless workdays they've been working since July 1, when the fiscal year began.

"What we have done today, I believe, puts us back another month" in adopting a full state budget, said state Rep. Mario Civera, R-Delaware, ranking Republican on the Appropriations Committee.

The delay will cause problems for counties, school districts and social service agencies who won't receive their state funding, said Mr. Civera.