Seattle Gun and Ammo Tax Supporters Using Bogus Revenue Projections

By Dan Zimmerman

(The following post is by Sergey Solyanik, owner of Seattle gun store Precise Shooter, and is reprinted here with permission. An anti-tax Facebook page has been set up here.)

As you may know, Councilman Tim Burgess is proposing a $25 tax per gun on firearms sales and transfers (excluding person-to-person sales) in the city of Seattle, and $0.05 tax per round on ammunition bought in Seattle. This is why this proposal is a really bad idea . . .

Financials
First, the basic arithmetic behind the proponents’ numbers is grossly unsound. The supporters of the proposal claim that it will generate $300,000-$500,000 in revenue that will be used to treat the victims of “gun violence.” These projections have absolutely no basis in reality.

Here are the very real number from Precise Shooter for the first half of FY2015:

Local firearms sales, which would be subject to $25 tax: 612 guns – total expected tax: $17,925
Total number of ammunition rounds sold: 115,160 – total expected tax @ $0.05 per round: $5,758

Assuming my store is roughly half of Seattle’s business, multiply this by four and you get the more realistic total for the year: $95,000

Real financials
But this, of course, assumes that …read more

Source:: Truth About Guns