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Must be nice to live in U.S.A. Up here we need to fight to take safety classes.
La. debuts tax-free holiday for weaponry
TAX BREAK TARGETS HUNTING EQUIPMENT
By Doug Simpson THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BATON ROUGE, La. — Paul McCrory won't go deer hunting until November, but Louisiana's new "sales tax holiday" on hunting equipment makes this weekend his best opportunity to shop for bullets and a new rifle.
Gun shop owners report customers like McCrory are enthusiastically planning to stock up on bullets, shells, shotguns, rifles and handguns — all of which will be sold without the 6 percent state sales tax or local sales taxes tomorrow through Sunday. That means a 9-percent tax break for Baton Rouge shoppers, several of whom said they planned to take full advantage.
"This will help the businesses out, because it encourages people to buy things at a lower price. It helps everybody out in the long run," said McCrory, 28, a Baton Rouge pipefitter. "I'm going to buy the rifle, ammo and all the fun stuff that go with it."
The tax break is a natural fit for the state known as "Sportsman's Paradise," and debuts at the same time dove hunting season starts. The inspiration for the "Annual Louisiana Second Amendment Weekend Tax Holiday" came from South Carolina, the first and only other state with such a law. South Carolina introduced its tax holiday over two days last year and is scheduled to lift taxes again in November on guns and bullets.
As was true in South Carolina, the Louisiana proposal faced little opposition in the Legislature, where many members campaigned as pro-firearm and want to avoid angering the National Rifle Association and other gun lobbies.
But Louisiana's tax break goes much farther than South Carolina's: Sales taxes are waived on any item that could be used for hunting or fishing, including clothes, shoes and bags. Also included: off-road vehicles, airboats, flat-bottomed boats called pirogues, animal feed, firearm and archery accessories, range finders, binoculars, knives, decoys, duck blinds, chairs, ear plugs, holsters, belts and slingshots.
Jim McClain, owner of Jim's Firearms in Baton Rouge, said his regular customers are well educated about the program: Dozens of regular customers have come to his store in recent weeks to have guns set aside, so they can return over the weekend and save money on taxes. Among the 80 firearms he's holding are a $3,500 shotgun — a purchase that will cost $315 less without taxes.
"It should be a fairly busy weekend. We've got quite a lot of weapons on hold right now," McClain said.
The sponsor of South Carolina's legislation, Rep. Mike Pitts, said that law helped struggling retailers last November at a time when penny-pinching consumers had otherwise been staying away from stores. The bill passed that state's Legislature easily but was vetoed by Gov. Mark Sanford — a veto that lawmakers easily overturned.
In Louisiana, the National Rifle Association praised the program and sent out e-mail alerts this week to remind its members of it, spokeswoman Rachel Parsons said.
Some hunters said they learned about the program from radio advertisements by Cabela's, a Sidney, Neb.-based retail chain that sells hunting equipment and has a store in Gonzales, just south of Baton Rouge. Cabela's spokesman John Castillo said the company has gotten a lot of questions about which products will be tax free — information they've happily supplied.
"We're hearing some chatter that there's some excitement about it, and we're just waiting to see what happens," Castillo said.
McClain said he expects some customers who had been uncertain about a purchase will buy guns this weekend.
Adam Featherston, 21, said today he was price shopping at Jim's Firearms and another store. The Baton Rouge auto mechanic said he planned to spend about $1,000 on bullets and two rifles over the weekend, for himself and his fiancee to use in deer season.
Featherston said he thought a tax break was especially appropriate for hunters because the cost of ammunition has shot up over the past year.
"It's a good idea because we're having to pay $5 extra now for bullets," he said. "I'm going to get everything I need now, so I'll be ready in November."
Must be nice to live in U.S.A. Up here we need to fight to take safety classes.
