Representative Tom Pischke (R-25/Dell Rapids) proposes House Bill 1078 to exempt firearms, ammunition, and gunpowder from South Dakota’s sales and use taxes.
Wait a minute: before we start giving tax breaks for Second Amendment purchases, shouldn’t we make sure we’ve properly exempted First Amendment purchases from oppressive taxation? We exempt ink and newsprints for shopper’s guides; shouldn’t we exempt all ink and paper expended in the production of free speech? And what about all that printed material: what good is free speech if we have to pay the government to obtain magazines and books? It’s high time to declare Barnes & Noble, Zandbroz, and the Full Circle Book Co-op tax-free zones!
How about photocopying services? South Dakota’s UPS Stores made good money off my ballot question campaign last summer running off the petitions and circulator handouts and affidavits necessary for citizens to exercise their right to speak; why should the state get to make money off us citizens who speak out against the state’s suppression of First Amendment rights? No more taxes on photocopies!
And what about the free speech you enjoy here on the blog every day? The feds have favored us with a ban on taxes on Internet services, but Midco is still charging me $2.97 a month in state sales tax. Nuts to that—exempt our Internet bills from sales tax!
But Internet access is no good without devices. We need our computers, tablets, and phones to access (and, in my case, produce!) all this free speech; personal electronics should also be exempt from taxation, all for the sake of the First Amendment!
Review all those examples of First Amendment tax breaks, and you’ll see that every item I mentioned is used much more frequently by far more people for far more diverse and practical daily exercises of basic First Amendment rights than the guns Representative Pischke would exempt from taxation are deployed for legitimate Second Amendment reasons. If tax breaks are in order (and, come on, Tom—the Founding Fathers’ rallying cry wasn’t No Taxation; it was No Taxation Without Representation, and you’re a bit of a ninny at both), we should prioritize them in terms of the rights such breaks will protect. First Amendment tax breaks appear to do far broader good more more basic rights than your Second Amendment tax break.
* * *
Rep. Pischke should, of course, be required to explain to House Taxation and our appropriators just how much his plan will add to the $1.477 billion the state already gives up in special tax exemptions and, to make up for what more he would hack from our already thin general fund, what programs he proposes to cut or what taxes he proposes to raise. While the LRC rushes to crank out a fiscal note on this bill before committee, I’ll shoot this estimate at the broad side of the gun barn:
- Start with this estimate of 85,000 firearms sold in South Dakota through federally licensed dealers in 2018.
- Multiple that figure by an average price of $500 for one good shootin’ iron.
- Add another $100 for ammo for each of those new guns.
- 35% of South Dakotans have guns, and those old guns need ammo, too. Figure 300,000 existing guns, some not fired or resupplied all year, but some used avidly for target practice and shooting, so guess $50 a year average in ammo for each firearm.
- Throw all those purchases together: $66 million.
- Multiply by 4.5% state sales tax rate: $2.97 million in sales tax breaks for bang-bangs.
If our Governor is to be believed, we can’t afford to poke any more holes in our state’s rusty budget bucket. $2.97 million could buy two more great ad campaigns for the state and cover Kennedy’s salary and raises for the rest of Mom’s term. Besides, $2.97 million is a small price to pay for items that post such enormous social costs:
According to a Johns Hopkins University study, U.S. emergency room and in-patient medical visits for gunshot wounds alone cost about $2.8 billion a year; it’s $45 billion if you count lost wages. Mother Jones magazine estimated the annual total costs from gun violence, including medical, law enforcement, trials and other costs, at $229 billion [editorial, “A Tax on California Gun Sales? It’s Worth Considering,” Los Angeles Times, 2018.12.05].
Boy, I’ve been shooting my mouth off inline for over fourteen years, and I don’t think I’ve caused any social harm like that.
Tax breaks for guns and bullets? Not until I see tax breaks for pens and paper, not to mention my mighty iPad… and even then, not until South Dakota’s budget and revenues are strong enough to afford any more cuts.
All guns, or just LEO guns exempt?
This is stupid, cheap a$$ pandering.
Yet, we still tax groceries.
Leslie, this certainly looks like it exempts all guns and ammo, not just guns and ammo purchased by law enforcement officers.
More legislative utter nonsense. Thank goodness the State of South Dakota cannot repeal the federal 11% excise tax from the Pittman-Robertson Act, for conservation.
SD has too many legislators. Thus, they have too much time on their hands. So they act like bugs looking for a windshield. SD should adopt a 49 senator unicameral (as has Nebraska). The quality of the legislature would improve overnight.
Ms. Leslie, law enforcement officers generally work for a government, and guess what? Governments don’t pay sales tax. Sit up straight and read Mr. H’s French math.
Perhaps this legislation needs an amendment to substitute food for guns and ammunition.
You beat me to it Bob !!
That Pischke! He’s a card,eh?
Nick’s right: HB 1078 exempts from taxation sales of guns and ammunition, period.
Gail, Bob K., yes! That’s the perfect protest amendment to this bill! In Sections 1 and 2, move to strike everything after “sale of” and insert “food.” We don’t even need a definition, since SDCL 10-45-1(5) already covers that and excludes alcoholic beverages, tobacco, and prepared food, allowing this simple amendment to focus the savings on family groceries.
Few things so clearly illustrate the difference between GOP and Democratic Party priorities than this bill v. the suggested amendment.
The GOP is fearful of people and wants to shoot them. The Democratic Party is compassionate and wants to make it less costly for them to feed themselves.
In a nutshell.
Debbo, once again you have summed it up beautifully and accurately.
I’m advised by those that claim to know something, that this bill is going nowhere.
This brain fart can’t even make it to the “problem identification” phase much less problem solving phase of public policy.
However, I think we can be confident that there will be a bevy of gun rights Gumbys lined up outside the committee room preparing to testify in support of the bill by employing some fictional, constitutional suppression of gun rights theory and demanding that their rights be upheld.
Since municipalities depend heavily on sales tax for local government operations, we might also see a few mayors, councilmen, et. al appear and complain that such foolishness encumbers their budgetary needs.
This mindless irrelevance appears every year and the larger problem is dealing with the mentality that converts this sort of political detritus into bill form in the first place. Seldom are there pols with the acumen to consider either the intended or unintended consequences nor do they consider the expense and wear and tear on the process of disposing of the garbage.
What is lacking in most legislative proposals is clear problem identification. The first question to be addressed in any legislative circumstance is; 1 Is there a problem….. The second is: 2. What exactly is the problem if there is one; and 3rd, if there is a properly-identified problem, is there a remedy in place already that has been forgotten or ignored in the mad rush for control of government.
I agree with JW. Legislators don’t provide straight out exceptions to the sales tax, unless they get something in return, ie., something else to tax. There are some breaks that are long standing, if they ever were taxed in the first place. Unless they have another revenue source to make up the hole, this ain’t happening.
Thanks Eve. ❤
Spot on John with the unicameral. Also, this little nugget “So they act like bugs looking for a windshield.” That was good. You clearly know what the last thing that goes through a bugs mind as it contacts a windshield at 70…