Special taxes on a civil right are unconstitutional regardless of who benefits!
In the wake of the Heller decision, it is time for the shooting industry to file lawsuits challenging special firearms and ammunition taxes on 2nd Amendment grounds - even those taxes that benefit hunting and shooting sports!
The question of special taxes - even small ones - on any aspect of a constitutionally protected right was settled by the Supreme Court over 20 years ago in a Freedom of the Press, 1st Amendment challenge.
In Minneapolis Star v Minnesota , SCOTUS ruled that raw newsprint (paper) cannot be subject to any special taxes, regardless of how minimal the tax, without violating the the 1st Amendment's protection of the Press. By this standard, the Heller decision could lead to the elimination special taxes placed only on gun and ammunition manufacturers as a violation of 2nd Amendment protections.
But it won't happen.
The 1937 vintage Pittman-Robertson Act (Section 4181), placed federal excise taxes, at the manufacturers level, on firearms and ammunition to fund conservation, wildlife management, range construction and hunter safety programs.
In 2009, some 50 million dollars in excise taxes were paid by the shooting industry! With this kind of money pouring into state wildlife agencies in the form of matching funds each year, it is highly unlikely the firearms industry would initiate any constitutional challenge to an excise tax that furthers its' own interests. Nor is any gun rights organization going to risk upsetting the hunter constituency that benefits most from Pittman-Robertson Act funds.
In Minneapolis Star v Minnesota (1987), the Supreme Court concluded:
"...differential taxation that selectively burdens the exercise of a fundamental right is impermissable."
Sounds good, until you "...follow the money!"
In the wake of the Heller decision, it is time for the shooting industry to file lawsuits challenging special firearms and ammunition taxes on 2nd Amendment grounds - even those taxes that benefit hunting and shooting sports!
The question of special taxes - even small ones - on any aspect of a constitutionally protected right was settled by the Supreme Court over 20 years ago in a Freedom of the Press, 1st Amendment challenge.
In Minneapolis Star v Minnesota , SCOTUS ruled that raw newsprint (paper) cannot be subject to any special taxes, regardless of how minimal the tax, without violating the the 1st Amendment's protection of the Press. By this standard, the Heller decision could lead to the elimination special taxes placed only on gun and ammunition manufacturers as a violation of 2nd Amendment protections.
But it won't happen.
The 1937 vintage Pittman-Robertson Act (Section 4181), placed federal excise taxes, at the manufacturers level, on firearms and ammunition to fund conservation, wildlife management, range construction and hunter safety programs.
In 2009, some 50 million dollars in excise taxes were paid by the shooting industry! With this kind of money pouring into state wildlife agencies in the form of matching funds each year, it is highly unlikely the firearms industry would initiate any constitutional challenge to an excise tax that furthers its' own interests. Nor is any gun rights organization going to risk upsetting the hunter constituency that benefits most from Pittman-Robertson Act funds.
In Minneapolis Star v Minnesota (1987), the Supreme Court concluded:
"...differential taxation that selectively burdens the exercise of a fundamental right is impermissable."
Sounds good, until you "...follow the money!"
