Tacoma Gun & Ammunition Tax Passes City Council Unanimously

By Dean Weingarten

U.S.A. –-(Ammoland.com)- On 12 November 2019, the Tacoma City Council passed its controversial tax on guns and ammunition. The tax is based on a similar tax in Seattle. The vote was unanimous, 8-0. 112 people were reported to have spoken on the issue.

To an ordinary reader, the tax would seem to violate the Washington State preemption law. The Washington Supreme Court held differently in 2017. It voted that a tax was not a regulation. One judge dissented, writing it was obvious the tax was aimed specifically at firearms. From the opinion:

That different inquiry centers on the language of the preemption statute itself. Here, RCW 9.41.290 uses deliberately broad language that clearly encompasses both regulations and “laws and ordinances” if they have any relationship to “the registration, licensing, possession, purchase, sale, acquisition, transfer, discharge, and transportation of firearms, or any other element relating to firearms or parts thereof.” RCW 9.41.290. Seattle Ordinance 124833 has a very close relationship with the “purchase, sale, acquisition, [and] transfer” of firearms–it targets them! Thus, while a uniform local tax that incidentally hits on sales of this product (while taxing various …Read the Rest

Source:: AmmoLand