U.S.A. –-(Ammoland.com)- Frustration and fury are evident in Pierce County, Washington following a vote by the Tacoma City Council to adopt a gun and ammunition tax despite overwhelming opposition from gun-owning citizens who have now started more than a half-dozen discussions on social media.
The Tacoma News Tribune is reporting that the tax—adding $25 to the purchase of every firearm, five cents per round of centerfire ammunition and two cents per round of rimfire ammunition—is “expected to raise $300,000 annually.” It will take effect in July 2020, but is that pie-in-the-sky?
Tacoma’s gun and ammo tax is patterned after a nearly identical tax imposed in Seattle, 30 miles to the north, beginning in 2016. That tax was supposed to raise between $300,000 and $500,000 annually, but actual revenue has never come close. It took a Public Records Act lawsuit by the senior editor of TheGunMag.com, supported by the Second Amendment Foundation, to reveal the truth.
In the first year, the tax brought in $103,766.22. The following year, 2017, the tax revenue plummeted more than $10,000 to $93,220.74 and last year Seattle collected a comparatively paltry $77,518.
According to KCPQ, the local Fox affiliate, the council vote was unanimous. It came after a standing-room-only overflow crowd heard testimony for about three hours, during which speakers were limited to 90 seconds at the microphone due to the number of citizens asking to testify.
KING, the local NBC affiliate, quoted Bruce Smith manager at Surplus Ammo & Arms, explaining that the tax will add $50 to the price of a 1,000-round bulk carton of 9mm ammunition. That cost, say critics of the tax, will drive gun shops out of the city. That’s what happened in Seattle more than three years ago.
Faced with the tax, Seattle’s Precise Shooter closed its doors and moved to a new location in Lynnwood, in a different county, taking its Seattle customers along. That amounted to thousands of dollars of lost revenue to the city in the form of B&O taxes and sales taxes.
Mary Davies, owner of Mary’s Pistols, one of Tacoma’s most popular gun shops, reportedly told KING she is certain to close her doors.
“It’s the principle that people will have to pay for what they think is their right,” she stated. “You would not pay a tax to vote, pay a tax for free speech.”
That sentiment can be found on social media in the wake of the council meeting.
The News Tribune quoted two council members with ominous observations:
Councilwoman Catherine Ushka reported said passing the tax was about playing “the long game” to address so-called “gun violence.”
“It gives a signal to other municipalities that it’s something that they can do,” Ushka reportedly stated.
And Councilman Ryan Mello, who sponsored the tax proposal, reportedly observed, “It is not the end of the road — it is one step we can do at the local level to sustained funding.”
But can that funding be sustained, or will it gradually dry up as is happening in Seattle?
And the greater question, which is being discussed on several Facebook threads, is whether the council adopted this tax in an effort to chase gun stores out of the city, or just out of business.
Tacoma is the third jurisdiction to adopt such a tax, the first being Cook County, Ill., which is also under Democrat control, though in Tacoma and Seattle, council positions are “non-partisan.”
Mello was quoted by KCPQ stating the tax revenue will “go toward educating kids about gun violence through different organizations in the city.”
But is there any plan to provide firearm safety education, taught by certified instructors, to Tacoma youth? According to published reports, city officials will “continue to look at the tax and work with community groups over the next several months to see what, if anything, should be changed before it’s implemented.” But those groups appear to be limited to gun control proponents including “victims of gun violence.”
Council members and Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards may be in for some headaches. By Wednesday morning, their telephone numbers had been posted on Facebook.
RELATED:
Tacoma, Washington Gun Tax Based on False Premises
About Dave Workman
Dave Workman is a senior editor at TheGunMag.com and Liberty Park Press, author of multiple books on the Right to Keep & Bear Arms and formerly an NRA-certified firearms instructor.
Take them out at the voting box or a recall!
Do they tax you to vote? How about tax people who go to church? Totally unconstitutional and they should e forced to not only pay damages in a lawsuit but be required to return all those special taxes with interest.
Will;
Of course there is a thing called “gun violence”. I once closed the bolt on my M1 garrand without moving my thumb fast enough. Now THATS gun violence!
These democrats are fully aware that gun taxes and gun laws will have no effect whatsoever. In plain English it is just a way for feminists and pussy ass male politicians to bully people around. The reason simply being that than they are able to do so. I might add that Tacoma was a draft dodgers sanctuary city during the Vietnam war. We arrived at the airport there after our tour to be bussed to Ft. Lewis. I was in a lucky group that arrived at night because we were told the war protesters would throw bags of feces at… Read more »
How is this different than a poll tax to pay for “voter education”? It isn’t; clearly unconstitutional.
The American People have bowed to government for over 100 years. YOU let them implement unconstitutional gun control ‘laws’. YOU let them create an unconstitutional federal income tax. YOU let them flood America with a new army, the illegal aliens. You let them act as tyrants as you kneel and obey. The governments ALL believe that they are the masters, even though our Constitution states otherwise. YOU mean less than nothing to the democrat’s communist world government plan. Had ANY of you watched the 2016 DNC Convention you would have seen NO American flags on stage (but, there was a… Read more »