A joint Massachusetts legislative committee is considering a measure that would increase the state tax on all firearms, gun parts, and ammunition sales to 11 percent.
The Massachusetts Joint Committee on Revenue last week held a hearing on H 3082, an act establishing an excise tax on guns and ammunition. The bill would impose an additional 4.75 percent tax on the existing 6.25 percent sales tax for such items. The new excise tax would explicitly fund “community-based public health interventions and research to prevent gun violence; and services for gun violence survivors and victims’ family members.”
Even guns and ammo purchased outside of the Commonwealth by Massachusetts residents will have to be reported and properly taxed, with the promise of a $1,000 fine for non-compliance.
"This law foists the societal problem of violent crime and the responsibility to pay for it on the shoulders of law-abiding sportsmen and women," notes the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation, which testified against the bill. "Additional costs to hunting and recreational shooting could potentially impact participation in hunting and recreational shooting, ultimately taking funds away from conservation efforts."
Guns and ammunition are already one of the most taxed and regulated retail goods in the country. Since 1937, the Pittman-Robertson Act levies a 10 to 11 percent excise tax on all firearms and ammunition sold or imported into the country to perform conservation-related tasks as varied as restoring elk habitat, funding safety programs, and establishing public shooting ranges. Since its induction, the firearm industry has paid a whopping $14.1 billion into the fund via the mandatory taxes.
The bill is a companion to S.1652, which was filed by Massachusetts Senate Majority Leader Cynthia Stone Creem. Both Creem and state Rep. Mindy Domb, sponsor of H 3082, are progressive Democrats who have backed a myriad of gun control measures in the past and are often feted by state and national anti-gun groups.
Meanwhile, pro-Second Amendment organizations such as Gun Owners of America oppose the bills.
"This measure comes as another attempt to further stigmatize and alienate everyday gun owners," says GOA in an alert. "In practice, implementing S 1652 means giving grants to anti-gun nonprofits and propaganda groups that will pressure local governments to push for stricter gun control without addressing any form of actual crime prevention."
If implemented, Massachusetts would join such deep blue states as California and Colorado in having special excise taxes on firearm sales. Likewise, California has seen its tax challenged on Second Amendment grounds.
