Tax Free Weekend for Hunters and Campers

[Hoopla Phil]

BATON ROUGE - Hunters and campers can save money this weekend on a wide range of supplies including firearms, ammunition, hunting knives and certain clothing items. The 2010 Second Amendment Weekend Sales Tax Holiday takes place Friday, September 3, through Sunday, September 5.

http://www.katc.com/news/tax-free-weekend-for-hunters-and-campers/

The reason I'm posting this here is for a much deeper discussion and consideration. Now that the McDonald case has established the 2A as a fundamental right, are any taxes on arms legal?

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[friendly_iconoclast]

3. Fail for untruth. There is a 11% excise tax on guns and ammunition, which is not being waived.

Can we assume your other posts have the same level of accuracy?

[onehandle]

8. That's all? Not nearly enough. nt

[Hoopla Phil]

10. Still waiting on how much you are willing to pay as "your fair share" next time you go vote.

[friendly_iconoclast]

14. An "expert" who is wrong about something he loves to pontificate about?

FROM: Glenn Beck
TO: Rush Limbaugh
CC: Michelle Malkin

Hi guys,

If you get a chance, go check out the Guns Forum at Democratic Underground. Looks like one of them has copied our playbook...

[shadowrider]

16. And how much of the multi-millions are YOU willing to pay if a ban on guns/ammo takes place

Just like you want?????

Huh??

How much are YOU willing to pay??

Just curious.

[Hoopla Phil]

5. Name calling right out of the box. Must be a new record.

I take it you are willing to "pay your fair share" when it comes time to cast your next vote? If guns are such a burden why do police have so many? Can you substantiate ANY of you claims?

[onehandle]

7. I did not namecall. Nice try. nt

[Hoopla Phil]

11. You equated me to a "tearacist" for making a proposal that I did not make.

I asked a question - you responded only with insults. Unfortunately that is all you have left in the 2A debate. I sometimes feel sorry for you.

[Name removed]

9. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[rrneck]

2. We pay property taxes in spite of the third and fourth amendments.

And we pay taxes on all the first amendment related equipment we buy.

[Hoopla Phil]

6. I don't know of the case at SCOTUS where the right to own property was found to be fundamental.

Can you please point me to it?

[rrneck]

13. Good point.

I'm not aware of any, and a firearm is pretty much the best bit of technology available for the average person to use for self defense, whereas we can communicate with all kinds of technology and live in all kinds of places. That makes a gun a lot easier to define for the purposes of attaching it to a fundamental right.

Of course, if you want to communicate with the body politic in any meaningful way you have to purchase technology to do it. Standing on the street corner and shouting is a waste of effort. Even coordinating a group of people to stand on a street corner would require technology acquired at some expense. Any meaningful action attempted by any group of people to petition the government for a redress of grievances would require the purchase of a lot of technology.

Should lobbyists pay property taxes on their office buildings? Should 503(c)'s pay taxes on their property? Fox News uses a ton of technology to communicate with people. Should they pay property taxes or taxes on the equipment they purchase? And since it's a corporation, should any corporation be required to pay taxes if it uses its facilities or equipment for public relations or community benefit? It could, and no doubt would, be argued that delivering their brand of "news" is a community service. Should Glenn Beck pay taxes on the purchase of his microphone?

Communications technology in our current society is an absolute requirement for the exercise of our first amendment rights, but if we forgo taxes on the purchase of that technology, not only does it seem to knock a huge hole in the revenue for the operation of government it seems to create another huge tax loophole for corporations to drive through.

It seems to me that, on balance, the right to keep and bear arms could equitably entail the taxation of the equipment required to exercise the right of self defense without placing an undue burden on those exercising it since to do otherwise might well open a huge can of worms regarding the exercise of other rights and how that exercise might impact the funding of government.

[Hoopla Phil]

19. You do raise what appears to be a valid issue. I'm suspecting that

if the issue where ever to reach SCOTUS we would see them "compromise" on the issue. Any tax over and above the normal sales tax on non-food stuffs would be barred. Just my guess on how SCOTUS would try make a decision while trying to not be controversial.

[rrneck]

20. That makes sense.

People do make mistakes with guns that incur costs to the public. Maybe it's not such a bad thing to have to pay taxes on them to help defray those costs.

[TheWraith]

12. And this has nothing to do, really, with the second amendment.

A state has the right to waive state taxes on some or all items. Usually it's done as an attempt to stimulate the economy by getting people to get out and buy stuff.

[X_Digger]

4. Are taxes on printer's ink and newsprint constitutional? Nope.

See Minneapolis Star & Tribune Co. v. Minnesota Commissioner of Revenue, 1983 (http://law.jrank.org/pages/12734/Minneapolis-Star-v-Minnesota-Commissioner-Revenue.html)

[friendly_iconoclast]

15. I suspect a certain poster here doesn't care for that SC ruling *at all*.

How can we raise taxes on guns and ammunition high enough to discourage the unwashed from buying them if taxes on

Constitutionally protected activities are illegal?

[Euromutt]

17. Well, not a "special tax assessment," anyway

The SCOTUS in that case doesn't seem to have ruled that it was unconstitutional to levy a use tax on newsprint and printing ink per se, but that it was unconstitutional to impose a special tax on (some) news media.

IANAL and all that, but it seems to me that under this ruling, levying a sales tax equal to that imposed on any other goods is permissible, but the special federal 11% excise on firearms and ammunition is not.

[X_Digger]

18. *nod* I should have clarified. n/t

[Hoopla Phil]

21. This response and the sub-threads have ferreted out some good thinking.

(There was also another good sub-thread about it.)

It seems to be the consensus that normal sales tax would be ok, but any "extra special" tax would, most likely, be ruled unconstitutional.

Thank you folks for the reasoned responses.