Shoppers Can Buy Tax-Free Guns This Weekend
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Tax free guns
South Carolina's second tax-free holiday for guns will be the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving.
For the second, and possibly last, time, gun buyers will pay no sales tax this weekend. The “Second Amendment Sales Tax Holiday” is from just after midnight Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, until midnight on Saturday. There will be no state sales tax on handguns, rifles and shotguns. The state Department of Revenue has answers to frequently asked questions about the tax holiday.
Last year was the first sales tax holiday on guns. State lawmakers had intended for it to be permanent, but they included it in another law that was ruled unconstitutional by the state Supreme Court. So they added it as a temporary measure in this year’s budget. That means this will be the last tax holiday on guns unless lawmakers include it in next year’s budget or pass it as a separate law.
South Carolina Fair Share, a group that works for tax fairness, says the state needs to get rid of the tax holiday on guns and the August tax holiday on back-to-school items. John Ruoff, of SC Fair Share, says, “At a time when we’re laying off state employees, when it seems like every month the fiscal picture gets worse, having this kind of another drain on the state’s revenues is just irresponsible.“
He says the tax break doesn’t entice people to buy guns they wouldn’t have bought anyway.
Mike Garrett of Spartanburg was looking at guns Wednesday and says he will buy one during the tax-free weekend. He says he would buy it anyway, but says, “I look at it as an incentive to the people. We pay taxes all year long. We should have a break sometimes.“
Chuck Grabbatin, who works at Sportsman’s Warehouse in Columbia, says he doesn’t know whether the tax-free weekend causes any sales that wouldn’t have happened anyway, but the store did sell at least two or three times more guns during last year’s holiday than it does on a normal weekend.
“Every little bit helps,“ he says. “As soon as they hear about tax-free weekend, they come in and spend their money on that particular day, just like they wait for Black Friday sales on other things, you know. It’s the same kind of thing.“
The state has not calculated exactly how much money was lost in tax revenue during last year’s tax holiday on guns, but estimates are it cost the state about $15,000.
The tax holiday is for handguns, rifles and shotguns, but does not include ammunition and accessories.
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Reader Reactions
matt… if Walmart got a shipment in right now. I guarantee they would be sold out before noon. If not the guy behind the counter will call somebody who has been waiting to buy some. I know you want to believe it but it has nothing to do with Obama hiding ammo. People will buy it because its there. A guy I work with started buying ammo the Summer of 2008 and is still buying ammo. He was afraid that if Obama won, according to the NRA, that there would be limited ammo. So every thought the same way and continues to buy it up.
Furthermore, if Walmart got a shipment everyday they would be sold out. People are making their own nightmare. Just buy what you need.
I would hope the ammo manufacture wouldn’t try to go faster… its already a dangerous job.
Think about, if Walmart had lots of ammo… and people went in and bought most of it. Walmart got a shipment in and people went in and bought most of it. And so on. No different if people went and bought gas when they were at 3/4 full… there would be a shortage of gas.
Go ahead… keep your ammo forever, but bullets aren’t sealed to the casing and humidity does play a role. Unless you can keep ammo at a certain temperature it will fail. So you need to have a temperature controlled room for that. Check with the FBI who has a test lab. Not Birddog. That again only proves that people buy ammo and never use it because they don’t need it. If you keep your ammo for more than a year what was the purpose in buying it?
Check any law enforcement agency… the ammo is depleted every year for fresh ammo. You don’t want bad ammo when you need good ammo to work in a life or death situation.
If people only bought what they needed there would not be a shortage or price increase. People are making there own nightmare by buying tons of ammo.
The only “mind blowing, crazy remarks” are yours!
Are you serious? Tell you what, please give me all of your 1 year old ammo that you are going to dispose of! I will gladly take it off your hands. As long as it is stored properly, it will out-live it’s owners children.
Don’t believe me? Here it is from a Military Munitions Specialist
http://www.alpharubicon.com/leo/longtermammo.htm
Gun Owners are stocking up because they see there is obviously something going on since the “bum” took office. Dont believe that? Next time you are in Wally-World, look at the ammo shelf.
Peace and Ammo to all, And to all a Happy Turkey Day!
maggie, one person of anything does not make up the whole town, city, county or country. Be smarter than that. The governor of SC screwed up… just him, not the whole state. The gun tax exemption is to promote sales, that’s it. Why people read more into something that is not there is mind blowing.
Its one of those things where people ask for it and get it (tax exemption). Then someone that doesn’t understand it will make crazy remarks.
Ammo manufactures know if they make too much it will flood the market and the demand will decrease. They are keeping the same pace and making the same money. People are buying ammo who don’t even shoot the guns they own. Take a survey of how often people shoot their pistols and I’ll bet most haven’t shot them in years. So why go buy 1000 rounds of ammo if you’re not going to shoot it?
If you stock up too much ammo you will probably exceed the shelf life. We rotate our ammo out after one year. Most people have ammo that is over one year and it may or may not perform they way it should.
Police dept. shoot a lot of their ammo once a year because when ammo gets old it will not perform well. Ammo is still available, you just have to find a good deal. With a lot of people buying it, it has caused the price to go up. It will come down soon… When people have more ammo than common sense and the demand is lower.
maggie, SC is not leaving the US. In order for us to do that, we would have to lead. Everyone knows SC is not a leader. We don’t even make a decent follower!
I bet I know now who voted for your govenor…but someone has to provide the rest of the country with laughs.
And I thought California people were funny…
well, how dumb…SC getting ready to leave the US again??? Or are youall just going to show thoses people they cannot rule you???No wonder your govenor is the laughting stock of the country.
And to the people buying it up… I say they are smart, not scared!
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