January 6, 2010
Tulsa World Quotes Tax Foundation Staff Economist Mark Robyn on Gun Sales Tax Holidays
"Policy group shoots down gun-tax idea"
By Barbara Hoberock
A tax policy group says a sales tax holiday on guns proposed by two state lawmakers is a bad idea.
Sen. John Sparks, D-Norman, and Rep. Wes Hilliard, D-Sulphur, said their "Second Amendment Weekend Sales Tax Holiday Act" would set a sales-tax-free period on handguns, rifles or shotguns starting at 12:01 a.m. on the third Friday in August until midnight the next Sunday.
Sparks said the measure would reduce barriers to exercising Second Amendment rights. Mark Robyn, a staff economist with the Washington, D.C.-based Tax Foundation, said lawmakers should not use the tax code to implement social policy.
The organization also opposes sales tax holidays, he said.
"The best way to implement a sales tax is to have a broad-based sales tax that doesn't have lots of exceptions and exemptions," Robyn said. "The broader the base, the lower the rate can be in order to raise the same amount of revenue."
If a state's tax code is filled with exemptions and holes, it will require the rate to be higher on all other purchases, Robyn said.
"It would seem strange to me if a state implemented a tax credit for people to exercise their First Amendment right to free speech or freedom of religion," Robyn said. "It seems like a strange concept to encourage people to use their Second Amendment right. That is not what the tax code is meant to do. It should be used to raise revenue in the least damaging, most efficient way possible. For sales taxes, that means applying it to all retail purchases."
