“Gun violence tax” in Seattle
Pinto Nag sends us a link from CNN which reports that the Seattle, Washington city council has passed what they call a “gun violence tax” on the sales of guns and ammunition in the city;
The new law will impose a $25 tax on guns and a 5-cent tax on bullets sold within the city limits….The law is based on a similar $25 gun tax that passed in Cook County, Illinois, in 2013. The Seattle budget office estimates the law will raise $300,000 to $500,000 a year.
Funny thing about those projected tax revenue calculations – they never come to pass because lawmakers don’t understand how those taxes inhibit sales. Especially in a city, where prospective gun buyers can just drive a few extra miles and avoid paying the tax outside the jurisdiction of the city council.
I’m sure that the folks who sell guns in dark parking lots will voluntarily pay the tax, you know even though they won’t conduct background checks. Like most of these tax schemes, it punishes low income inner city residents who need the protection of a firearm more than most of us – forcing them to purchase their guns illegally without any oversight. Not to mention how this tax will punish legal gun dealers in the city limits who will suffer from reduced sales. But, other than all of those reasons, it’s a good idea /sarcasm.
Category: Gun Grabbing Fascists
These laws should be challenged in the courts. I’m hopeful they’ll be found unconstitutional.
I seriously doubt that any court challenge in Federal court would prevail. States and localities have broad authority to declare behaviors unlawful or to levy taxes at ridiculous rates if they so choose, provided that they do so in a way that applies to everyone equally. Taxing an activity doesn’t prohibit it legally, it just makes it more expensive. So the “infringement on 2nd Amendment rights” argument IMO almost certainly won’t fly.
Here’s an example of what I’m talking about: even today, a surprising number of US counties are “dry” counties; ditto dry towns (e.g., alcohol sales are legally banned). This is often true even when the county or town next door allows alcohol sales.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dry_communities_by_U.S._state
FWIW: the Jack Daniels distillery in TN is in a dry county.
State law may be another matter, but I’d guess WA law allows stuff like this. Seattle is on the left coast.
I believe it will violate state law preempting local governments from passing any laws concerning firearms except some zoning and limits on range hours. Until they sort this out everyone should come down here to Tacoma for ammo.
In that case, WA has saner laws than I’d have guessed. Which is a good thing.
I wouldn’t bet the farm on that outcome, though. Key question will be whether the WA state courts see this as a law involving firearms or one involving local taxation. If the former, state law may well preempt. If the latter, IMO, probably not – unless WA state law restricts local taxation authority also.
Time to sell that frigging state to Canada!
I happen to live near enough to VA that it’s economical for me to buy certain items (e.g., gasoline) there rather than my home state. And I do. About now, many states are holding their no-tax days for the back-to-school crowd. Retailers and consumers love these days. The money flows. Funny how that works.
Ditto. If gas is $.20/gal cheaper, it’s worth it to drive across the state line and put that extra $2.00 on another gallon of gas. Same thing with taxes on food, clothing and other necessary items. In some states, food products are not taxed. In others, they are.
Yeah, except the range is .30 to .40 cheaper per gallon. Fill ‘er up and it’s $6-$8 that stays in my pocket.
Heck, even true between counties. My county has a 9.5% sales tax. County to the north’s sales tax is 7.7% (local sales taxes allowed). Distance to travel to similar stores within half a mile either way. Guess where I do most of my shopping? It’s a small difference, but it means more of my money stays in my pocket.
I am not sure that the money flows because of tax free school days or because people have to buy school things anyway.
Here in my county, we have tax free school days. Last year the school board pushed for and got a half cent increase on the sales tax because (allegedly) there wasn’t enough money to fund the schools.
That means that grandma, grandpa and others pay more so that a parent can get that nifty Disney Princess backpack during “tax free days.”
I understand the general point that lowering taxes helps increase spending which may increase tax revenues. I am just not sure that “tax free days” causing a higher tax rate the rest of the year is a good example of that point.
As long as this tax will be actually used for gun violence prevention, they can go fuck themselves. What about the automobile violence tax? The baseball bat tax? The claw hammer tax?
As you said, this will just make it more difficult for people to protect themselves from criminals.
We need an Aberdeen moment in this country. You Starship Troopers fans will know what I’m saying.
Just what we need, an added $5 on a box of MiniMags….that tax is more than they sold for before the current .22 scarcity.
+1 on the Aberdeen comment. Either that or set up containment centers for the waterheads: they’d be a lot happier – up on the reservation.
I think some of you are missing the point of this tax. It’s not meant to collect a single red cent for “gun violence” or anything else.
It’s meant to cause gun and ammo sellers to move their businesses outside the city limits, which is exactly what the lefty city council wants.
And if I ran a business that sold guns or ammo that’s exactly what I’d do, whether this law passed or not: Close my business in Seattle and reopen in Federal Way, Bellevue, Tacoma, or one of the many, many other suburbs in the Puget Sound area.
Google shows that very few places sell guns within the city limits of Seattle. 4 Big Five Sporting Goods, two pawn shops, and two gun shops. I don’t think its likely that that they get anywhere near the 300-500K revenue, but again that’s not the point.
Hasn’t SCOTUS already spoken to such punitive “taxes”?
http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/460/575.html
You mean the same SCOTUS that calls Obamacare requirements a “tax”, which makes it legal?
The SCOTUS case PavePusher cites is from the early 1980s. Not exactly the same SCOTUS as we have today.
SCOTUS got it right in their decision.
It is a tax exactly the way the BHO administration planned it to be.
I don’t agree with the admin, but do agree the SCOTUS called it as it was planned and executed … A tax.
I also agree with Roberts’ assertion that the SCOTUS is not there to rule on how bad a law is (Obama Care), just whether it is constitutional or not.
So, we the stupid people, as the architect referred to us as, got exactly what we voted for!
PS: Sorry for ending the preceding sentence in “for”. Major grammar phopa!
Probably not a good precedent. The MN tax appears to have been unequally applied – e.g., it was designed only to materially affect a handful of publishers in the state (small publishers were exempt, and many others paid only an insignificant amount of tax; only the “big hitters” in the press were significantly affected). In contrast, the Seattle tax isn’t tied to volume of sales – it’s an additional sales tax on each specified unit sold.
Had the MN tax been “across the board”, without the $100k (early 1980s) “off the top” exemption, my guess is that the SCOTUS would have allowed it. That’s precisely what the proposed Seattle ordinance does – taxes everyone in Seattle buying guns and ammo at the same rate.
Hondo: The most wanted barracks lawyer back in the day when he was in.
you had me at….
Can you even buy a gun in Cook County? Looks like a bad example to follow.
One could, but I prefer to shop in the collar counties (Lake & McHenry).
Another “brilliant” idea from a bunch of candyassed liberal harebrained politicians, I wonder how many legit businesses this will chase out of their little fiefdom?
Probably not many. I think there are only a handful of gun stores in the city anyway. This is mainly aimed at ammo ($0.05 per round). The gun stores will likely move a few miles to the city line and a few more jobs will go bye bye. Remember, this is the same city council which instituted the $15 minimum wage, which has adversely affected restaurant jobs in the city compared to the surrounding counties. In other words, we’re not talking rocket scientists here.
API, a search on Bing says there are five gun stores in Seattle. I hope all five of ’em up and moves. Now Mr councilman, how much are you making off that tax?
Oh, and by the way, the taxes that those five stores WERE paying is gone now too.
Liberals – the architects of unintended consequences.
OC
The Immutable Law of Unintended Consequences
Seattle is also the same city that did the 15 dollar minimum wage increase and was one of the first in the US to do so.
They also used eminant domain to steal a parking lot from a local business owner to turn it into a parking lot, to be used by a bigger business. (That was obviously spewing money into their campaign funds)
“A lot” of Washington state is fairly normal people. Its Seattle and the capital round abouts that are full of the hippies and hipsters.
You mean just like Colorado with the libtard infestations in Boulder and Denver, Chicago with the corruption in Cook County, California with LA, Sacramento, and San Foo-foo,..
Don’t forget Texas’ boil in need of lancing, Austin
Yeah, that as well.
The geniuses on the Austin City Council are proposing new restrictions on BBQ joints. I KNOW Buda, Kyle, Manor, Mustang Ridge et all are salivating at the prospect of that happening.
And then when the hipsters can’t stand in line for hours to buy overpriced brisket at Franklin’s anymore, they’ll revolt….
I just despise yuppies. If you look below the surface on every one of them, it’s worse than the DU inhabitants.
I once proposed legalizing violence against hipsters, yuppies, and hippies, I still think it’s a pity it didn’t catch on!!
I remember something about that, whiny candyasses bawling about the scent, thus they were demanding that barbecue places install scrubbers to eliminate the scent…
API, name a decade or a century in which there was no corruption in Chicago. I dare you. It’s part of the culture of the City of Big Whiners.
Come on! Al Capone’s basement didn’t have anything in it. Where else could you punch a hole in the bottom of a river and flood every downtown store basement? And how many other cities have streets named for people who should have been hung out to dry?
Chicago IS corruption personified, so take that off your list. It is not something new.
It goes to show just how liberals are like an infectious bacteria, virus, or parasitic fungus. They render one location unliveable like they’ve done to California, then they migrate and infect other places like they’ve done to Colorado, Washington, and Oregon and fuck things up there!
Seattle can fall right into the Sound…and I would have no issues. The Seahawks and Mariners would be a small price to pay for sanity.
Ditto Frisco. I know many innocent lives will be lost but I’m willing to pay that price.
LA as well!
But what about the children? Won’t someone think of the children?
No.
NOT ME, I’m just an evil, uncaring “racist” minion of The Vast Right Wing Conspiracy! 😀
Yo.
MTV Raps.
Anybody notice they never said what they were going to do with the revenue?
One of the City Councilmen was interviewed by KCPQ; he stated the money raised will be used for Gun Violence education…anyone here actually believe that?
I certainly hope it’s not a “how to” course in gun violence… 🙂
At least in Cook County the money is earmarked to “offset” the effects of gun violence, i.e. emergency room visits and other medical issues.
Seattle is just doing a bold face money grab.
There won’t be any revenue. Everyone will go to snohomish or pierce county to buy
Plenty of places east of the lake that will be more than happy to take your money for guns and ammo.
Seattle should just simply tax bad taste.
They would be ROLLIN’ in the Benjamins!
They can start with a hipster wearing a tactical beard tax. A IPA Beer Snob Tax…A hipster moving into Ballard Tax….A Hippy Tax in Freemont.
Just think of the revenue that can be used to paint more sidewalk rainbows.