Gov. Mark Dayton’s revised budget calls for tripling the metro area sales tax, but it would generate less revenue than his initial proposal to double the transit-dedicated tax.

After dropping controversial plans to expand sales taxes to business services, Dayton said this week that the 0.25 percent metro area sales tax would need to be increased to 0.75 percent to raise the kind of revenue transit backers say is needed to maintain and build out a regional transit system.

The tax would apply in Anoka, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey and Washington counties; Scott and Carver counties, which opted not to join the transit taxing district in 2008, would have a 0.5 percent sales tax.

The new tax plan would generate an estimated $791 million for transit through 2017, a nearly 8 percent drop from the $850 million in revenue that could have been created from a 0.5 percent sales tax with a broader base.

Metropolitan Council Chair Sue Haigh said Friday that she remained “very, very excited” about the idea, despite the drop in revenue.

“Really this is the biggest investment a governor has chosen to make since we had a transit system,” Haigh said. “This is still going to give us plenty of leeway.”

The additional tax revenue, supporters say, is needed to cover the remaining $118 million state share of the $1.3 billion Southwest Light Rail Transit line between Minneapolis and Eden Prairie and nearly two dozen other transit lines planned over the next two decades.

Officials said the Southwest LRT line would still be covered but that the impact on other planned transit projects remains unclear.

“It’s a little bit down from the original proposal, but it’s still an incredible investment and going to do wonders to stabilize and expand the system,” said Hennepin County Commissioner Peter McLaughlin, chair of the Counties Transit Improvement Board.

The Dayton plan is one of three transit funding proposals being considered by state lawmakers.

A group of environmentalists, unions and transit supporters is backing a 1 percent sales tax estimated to raise $300 million a year for transit in the metro and greater Minnesota.

A proposal from Rep. Ron Erhardt, DFL-Edina, calls for a 5-cent increase in the gas tax and would raise $3.2 billion for transportation over the next four years. The plan includes $700 million for transit.

House and Senate Transportation Committees are scheduled to take up transit funding on Wednesday and a final package is expected to emerge by the end of the month. Leaders of the committees could not be reached for comment Friday.

The Minneapolis, St. Paul and Twin West chambers of commerce have each said transit expansion is needed to make the region economically competitive, but have not said how they believe it should be paid for.

Matt Kramer, president of the St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber’s board of directors would take up the issue next week but was not yet prepared to take a position.

Will Schroeer, director of infrastructure and economic development for the Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce, said the group also wasn’t ready to take a stance.

“We have started to have the conversation, but we’re not done with it yet,” he said.

McLaughlin said he believes the business community and legislators will ultimately support the idea.

“They understand we need to do it, and that there’s no free lunch here,” he said. “These investments require leadership and they require revenue.”

If a higher sales tax is adopted, the Twin Cities would move closer to other metro regions that already have a 1 percent sale tax directed to transit, including Denver, Dallas and Boston.

Officials have compared the Twin Cities to those other regions in making the argument for greater investment.

“I think when you compare the rate of sales tax that our comparable metro areas are paying today, this half-cent [increase] really puts in the same ballpark,” Haigh said.