Why is there sales tax on USED firearms?

[CoalTrain49]

Or, here in FL, you do a FTF transaction in a parking lot with no FFL involved

That's probably going to change if the UBC gets passed. Of all the AG bills going thru congress this year I'm thinking if any get passed it will be that one. Lots of states already have a UBC, including mine.

 

[George P]

Or folks will simply not bother, much the way we saw Canadians ignore some laws passed regarding guns and the way some states efforts to restrict full capacity magazines failed as folks simply refused to comply.
When you start taxing things like services, you give rise to the black/gray market; folks working side jobs off the books, etc. which is one reason the government wants to eliminate actual currency in favor of electrons - easier to track where you go, what you buy (including anything gun-related), and easier to simply confiscate anything you have they deem unworthy of you owning - like your 401K...................we need to push back against these rules and laws and EOs.

 

[CapnMac]

The State Comptroller's office will have references for all the things that the State Sales Tax applies to.
For many States, food is the only exception, or if not the final retail purchaser.
That latter seems to confuse many people.

 

[CoalTrain49]

Or folks will simply not bother, much the way we saw Canadians ignore some laws passed regarding guns and the way some states efforts to restrict full capacity magazines failed as folks simply refused to comply.
When you start taxing things like services, you give rise to the black/gray market; folks working side jobs off the books, etc. which is one reason the government wants to eliminate actual currency in favor of electrons - easier to track where you go, what you buy (including anything gun-related), and easier to simply confiscate anything you have they deem unworthy of you owning - like your 401K...................we need to push back against these rules and laws and EOs.

I know all too well about the black market services here. Some contractors have two prices. Sometimes you don't even have to ask about the second price, they just quote it and everyone knows how it works. They work word of mouth and many locals know who they are and some do better work than the ones who charge the "official" labor rates. Most of the time you can't even find a contractor to get a quote.

I know this is off topic but the UBC transfer works the same way. Some just ignore it.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

UBC.
Bloomberg Everytown UBC is what, a $55 or $65 surtax to discourage used gun transaction with a background check? AKA encourage used gun transactions without a BC?

In my state a private gun transaction background check is $39 last time I checked. Yeah. If I buy a junk shotgun for $8 for spare parts to fix my working copy, I'll pay more than the used gun is worth for parts. Sure. This is getting ridiculous. When the German Weimar Republic proposed a gun law after WWI, someone in the Reichstag had the audacity to state in opposition that It does the dignity of the law no good to pass unenforceable statutes. For that moment of clarity, his name has been lost to history. In the meantime, under the NY SAFE Act, you can own a ten round magazine, use it with ten rounds at the range, but if you load more than seven rounds for self-defense, you are a felon. Puuuuleeeeze. When will the idiocy stop?

Something I found in highschool in the middle of our local option alcohol prohobition (1953-1968):

• "`He that is born to be a man,' says Wieland in his Peregrinus Proteus, `neither should nor can be anything nobler, greater, or better than a man.' The fact is, that in efforts to soar above our nature, we invariably fall below it. Your reformist demigods are merely devils turned inside out."--Edgar Allan Poe in Marginalia

 

[FFGColorado]

I have a bigger issue with paying tax on property I already own, every damned year. If I don't pay it, they put a lien on said property and eventually seize it.

Have any kids in public school?

Tennessee has some of the lowest property taxes in the U.S. The median annual property tax paid by homeowners in Tennessee is $1,220, about half the national average. The average effective property taxrate in Tennessee is 0.64%.

 

[CDW4ME]

There is also sales tax on used cars, boats, vintage clothes at a thrift shop, etc.

1st reply was insightful; certain other used items are subject to sales tax in some places.

 

[George P]

Have any kids in public school?

My millage rate is 16.705 which comes out as .016705%

 

[stillquietvoice]

Someone somewhere probably already paid sales tax on it at the point of original sale. It seems like that if a firearm changed hands enough times, the sales tax might be more than the

I've sold guns to FFL's in NY usually, not always I get agreed upon price plus the sales tax on that amount. Do charging sales tax on a new purchaser of said item is understandable. As has been mentioned businesses are required to collect sales tax on any durable goods, exceptions are most food items and some clothing.

My is funny about vehicle transfers and taxes, if transferred to a family member no tax is paid by new owner.

Have any kids in public school?

Not any more, NY, broome county, is satisfied with property taxes. Properly taxes don't pay for childrens education here we, I, also have school taxes to pay so the state, county, local governments are double and triple dipping.

 

[H&R Glock]

Hey, Orphington. Move to Michigan. There is no sales tax on silver or gold coins or bullion. The perfect place for a silver stacker. Everything else you have to pay tax on INCLUDING shipping! That last part is the thing I hate most. I don't get anything I can hold in my hands for shipping cost , but still have to pay sales tax on it. Go figure!

 

[CraigC]

Have any kids in public school?

No.

 

[jmorris]

You are taxed when you work for the money.
You are taxed if you invest your money and it makes money without you.
You are taxed if you spend the money you have made.
You are taxed by Federal, State and local governments.

Depending on where you live you could get taxed on what you already own (and already paid taxes on). Property taxes are an example, you really don’t “own” your property because if you don’t pay them, what percentage they want of a value they come up with, for your property, they will take it from you.

In some places if you give your money away, that is taxed and last but not least, when you die, yep another tax. Then there is a tax on the people that inherit the rest and the cycle continues...

The kicker is a little over half of the voting population of the Country thinks we need more taxes, not less.

 

[JumboJVT]

Don't get frosted at the tax, get frosted at the spending that begets the tax. I prefer a sales tax, to say, a property tax. I can decide what my exposure to the tax is by deciding what to spend, and not to, spend money on.

Edit: To clarify, of course the government spending is the concern, not one's personal spending

 

[lemaymiami]

Government, local, state or federal...needs money to operate...They'll get it one way or the other - at least with a sales tax you know up front how much it is - and which government is sticking you. Here in Florida it can vary from county to county - and I imagine up in a place like New York there are probably multiple layers of sales taxes (or at least more than one entity piling on... ). Some taxes are "alledgedly" temporary - added for a particular cause (the penny tax for this or that...) but all too often temporary becomes permanent... Among other endeavors I make fishing lures and tie flies, etc. Every bit of it I pay excise tax on -before it ever is purchased in one store or other. I doubt that most buyers have any idea of the multiple times goods for sale have been taxed before they ever buy them... Lucky us...

In recent years anyone can avoid most sales taxes by simply not shopping locally (the internet of course --- where I get most of the supplies my small business requires...). But even that is fading away as states learn how to strong arm sellers (particularly big sellers like Amazon...) into collection sales taxes for them...

The question all of us should ask - very pointedly and publicly...whenever a politician or political party promises to do all those great things for us? HOW ARE YOU GOING TO PAY FOR THAT? Something that's particularly important today given the folks who control things in Washington right now...

I'll quit shouting and get down off of my soapbox now...

 

[P5 Guy]

Have any kids in public school?

No, I never reproduced.

 

[Robert]

Asked and answered. Let's go throw some tea in the harbor... That's how I feel about taxes.