Republican state Rep. Steve Kaiser is introducing a bill that would eliminate sales tax on guns and firearm safety equipment like safes. He claims the increased cost on firearms due to state taxes can dissuade people from purchasing a firearm when they might have done so otherwise.
Kaiser also claims that removing the transaction privilege tax, the formal name for the state sales tax, would reduce the amount of private sales.
"There's a couple of reasons why you buy private sale. But one of them is cost savings. And now, if there's no TPT on the firearm then you have more people go to the gun store and buy them instead of the private sales," Kaiser said.
Democratic state Rep. Jennifer Longdon, who was paralyzed in 2004 due to a shooting, says she could support the bill if it also closed the gun show loophole. She says there has been no evidence that removing state sales tax on guns moves purchases from gun shows to licensed firearm dealers. Kaiser says his research found the same lack of evidence.
