A proposal to eliminate state sales taxes on firearms and ammunition might save shooters a few bucks at the sporting goods store, but it’s not needed, some Wyoming sportsmen said.
“That’s the juice that’s not worth the squeeze,” avid hunter and shooting enthusiast Nic George of Sheridan told Cowboy State Daily.
George said he spends up to $10,000 a year on ammunition and reloading supplies and cutting sales and use taxes on guns and ammo, as proposed in Senate File 58, would probably save him only a few hundred dollars.
As he sees it, that’s not worth possibly putting the pinch on other sectors of the state’s budget.
“There’s no fundamental reason to remove taxes on just that (firearms and ammunition). If believe in lower taxes, then just cut taxes across the board,” he said.
Mark Jones of Buffalo, the National Director of Gun Owners of America, told Cowboy State Daily that his organization isn’t taking a stance one way or the other on SF 58.
“GOA takes no position on it, because it’s not a Second Amendment rights issue,” he said.
Save A Few Bucks On A Glock
Ryan Allen, owner of Frontier Arms in Cheyenne, told Cowboy State Daily that he doesn’t see the idea of eliminating state taxes on guns and ammo catching on.
“I’m pretty sure that thing’s not going to fly,” he said.
The “use tax” portion of the bill seems to preemptively address something Wyoming doesn’t have yet.
A use tax is charged to firearms dealers on incoming products, and Wyoming doesn’t have that, he said. Colorado has one, set at roughly 6.5 percent, he said.
Regarding sales tax, it would make the final bill for one of his store’s best-selling guns about $32 dollars cheaper, he said.
The base price on newest generation of Glock 19 pistols is $539.95, he said.
‘Pandora’s Box’ Of Requests For Cuts
The idea of saving a few bucks at the till sounds appealing on a personal level, but in the wider scope of things, cutting sales tax on firearms and ammunition doesn’t make sense, avid hunter and shooter Frank Bilek of Buffalo told Cowboy State Daily.
If the goal is to take the financial pinch off of “the basic hunters in the state, who are trying to feed their families,” there are better ways to do it, he said.
“If you want to really save people money, lower taxes on fuel and oil,” he said. “If you can affect that price, then all of the sudden, the price of everything will come back down,” he said.
And cutting sales taxes for one group could open a “Pandora’s Box” of requests from others, he added.
“I’ve got a lot of friends who like to fly fish, but don’t hunt. They might ask, ‘Where’s my sales tax cut on fishing gear?’” he said. “What if you want to buy a new fishing boat, and that boat needs a new trailer?”
Fed Wildlife Funds Would Not Be Cut
Bilek said he was also initially concerned that cutting state sales taxes would hurt conservation funds – which come from revenue generated by firearm and ammunition sales nationwide.
But SF 58 wouldn’t do that. The conservation money comes from the Pitman Robertson funds.
Those funds are generated at the federal level and figure into the base prices of guns and ammunition, Allen said.
The funds are vital to Wyoming wildlife. The Wyoming Game and Fish Department uses its share of the funds – which can amount to millions of dollars annually — to help pay for conservation, public access and facilities improvement projects.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
