For “Health and Safety,” Arizonans May Get a Sales-Tax Exemption for Guns

The Arizona State Legislature proved once again that they are looking out for the best interest of guns buyers. The Senate Appropriations Committee agreed on March 29, 2022, to make guns slightly more affordable by exempting gun purchases from sales taxes.

Unfortunately, Republican senators said they would support an exemption only for selling used guns sold in retail stores. What do Republicans have against new firearms? Why used instead of new? Don’t they know the saying, “Buy American?” What about all the jobs new guns create for this country? How would Republicans like it if they were told they could only buy used cars, televisions, or iPhones. Talk about discrimination!

If everyone in the country bought used items, where would all the workers go that make new stuff? Talk about job destroyers. There would also be no sales tax on gun safes and other lockboxes designed to allow access only through keys, a combination lock, or a thumbprint.

Health and safety

Dave Kopp, a lobbyist for the Arizona Citizens Defense League, testified that the goal of House Bill 2166 is consistent with a list of other exemptions from sales taxes for health and safety products. Wow, “health and safety.” Talk about political doublespeak.

If an Arizona citizen were shot with a used gun, how exactly does that relate to their safety and health? Is it safer to be shot with a used gun than a new one? Perhaps the bullets in a used gun would have more lead in them, thereby causing a person being shot to also suffer much more from lead poising.

Kopp said, “I do believe that this is not geared toward helping the firearms industry per se but helping the firearms industry customers.” However, he also said, “If you need to buy a gun or you need to buy groceries, that sales tax could make all the difference.”

Cheryl Todd is the Arizona coordinator for the DC Project, an organization of women that advocates for gun rights. She said, “As the person who is called on to balance my family’s budget, a bill like this will go a long way not just my family, but especially in lower-income families.”

Let’s look at the real average sales tax problem in Arizona for the lowest tax bracket and how buying a used gun will help them. The lowest 20% of income earners pay 13% of their income in state and local taxes. And the top 1% pay just 5.9% of their income in state and local taxes. So a sales tax exemption on used guns for the lowest 20% would be insignificant to the lowest earners.

Here are some of Arizona’s history of tax cuts from past years.

• 1992: The state has a budget surplus of $11 million, and the Legislature passed more than $20 million in tax cuts. A decade of tax cuts followed, including seven income-tax cuts between 1994 and 2007.
• 1996: The state eliminates the state property tax.
• 2006: The state had a $1.5 billion budget surplus. Gov. Janet Napolitano, a Democrat, worked with a GOP-led Legislature to expand or create several state programs, including all-day kindergarten. They also pass $500 million in tax cuts
• 2006: The state repeals the estate tax.
• 2009: Gov. Jan Brewer signs a budget package that cuts $144 million from K-12 schools and $155 million from the state Department of Economic Security. For the first time, the state exceeds its threshold of $500 million in IOUs backed by state-held accounts and must turn to institutional lenders.
• 2011: The Legislature and Gov. Jan Brewer approved a tax package to cut corporate taxes by 30 percent from 2014 to 2019, costing the state an estimated $538 million. It also included phasing down the flat corporate income tax rate from 6.9 percent in fiscal 2015 to 4.9 percent in fiscal 2018.
• 2012: The Legislature and Gov. Jan Brewer approve a tax-cut package that includes a 25 percent reduction in individual income taxes on capital gains over the following three years.
• 2015: The Legislature and Gov. Doug Ducey approve legislation to adjust the state’s income tax brackets with yearly inflation. It cut tax revenue by $30 million in fiscal year 2016.
• 2020: Gov. Doug Ducey signed into law a $12.8 billion budget for Arizona that included a significant tax cut primarily benefiting the wealthy, fulfilling a long-held priority for the Republican governor who promised to drive taxes as low as possible. Looking at all these tax cuts, no wonder the Republican state legislature wants to help the lower and middle-class taxpayers.

Yes, indeed, Arizona Republicans are concerned about lower-and middle-class sales tax cuts