It may be only a sidestory at this point to the health care reform debate, but it’s increasingly becoming an interesting one.

This morning, another business coalition jumped on the idea of a hike in California’s sales tax to help pay for a major expansion of health care access.

The California Small Business Association, which describes itself as a coalition of more than 200,000 small businesses across the state, today lent its support to a call for raising the sales tax by a penny to fund health care reform. The organization is lending its support to a call by the California Restaurant Association for a ballot initiative to make this happen.

“We believe that a one cent sales tax is the most equitable way to pay for health care reform,” said CBSA president Betty Jo Toccoli in a written statement, “as every Californian will be contributing to the system as well as benefiting from the system.”

The small business group opposes the Democratic legislation, AB 8, which would impose a new fee on businesses to pay for employee health care. However, the two business groups now calling for a sales tax increase won’t find any love in the Capitol from their usual allies in the Republican party; both GOP leaders say their party’s legislators are opposed to a tax increase.