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A House Democrat plans to introduce a bill that would hit AR-15s with a 1,000% tax — and it could pass Congress without GOP votes
https://www.businessinsider.com/dem...gress-gun-control-biden-administration-2022-6
The recent string of high-profile shootings in the US is prompting one House Democrat to draft a measure designed to severely restrict access to the AR-15-style weapons used by gunmen in the carnage. Rep. Don Beyer of Virginia, a member of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, wants to impose a 1,000% excise tax on such semiautomatic rifles.
"What it's intended to do is provide another creative pathway to actually make some sensible gun control happen," Beyer told Insider. "We think that a 1,000% fee on assault weapons is just the kind of restrictive measure that creates enough fiscal impact to qualify for reconciliation."
New AR-15-style guns cost anywhere from $500 to over $2,000 depending on location, NBC News reported. That means a 1,000% tax on the weapons would add $5,000 to $20,000 to their final sales prices — and would probably keep them out of reach from many younger Americans.
Some details of the bill still aren't finalized, such as when the tax would take effect and what to do with any revenue raised. It's also unclear how much money it would generate. The National Shooting Sports Foundation in a 2014 court brief cited estimates that AR-15-style rifles accounted for one in five guns purchased in the US. Gun sales have surged since then and last year reached their second-highest level recorded.
Law-enforcement agencies and the US military wouldn't be subject to the tax, Beyer said. The legislation would also apply only to future sales and not to the 20 million AR-15-style rifles already estimated to be in circulation across the US. Other guns used for hunting and other recreational purposes would also be exempt.
Bullets wouldn't be subject to the new tax. But high-capacity magazines that can carry more than 10 rounds of ammunition would be aggressively taxed at that level.
Beyer's definition of an "assault weapon" closely mirrors a measure that Rep. David Cicilline of Rhode Island is pushing. That bill would ban weapons with at least one military characteristic like a pistol grip or a forward grip.
House Democrats are rallying around their own expansive gun-control package separate from Senate negotiations on a narrower bill centered on mental health, red-flag laws, and a modest expansion of background checks. The House bill is expected to fall flat in the upper chamber with stiff GOP resistance.
That likelihood prompted Beyer to eye reconciliation, the legislative tactic allowing proposed laws to bypass the Senate's 60-vote threshold known as the filibuster and pass with a simple majority. Democrats employed the maneuver in 2021 to approve both the stimulus law and the House-approved Build Back Better bill over united GOP resistance.
One expert says Beyer's measure most likely qualifies for inclusion in a smaller spending bill containing pieces of President Joe Biden's climate and tax agenda. Democrats hope to revive it by summer's end.
"Taxes get more deference in budget reconciliation than other policies from a parliamentarian point of view," Zach Moller, the director of the economic program at the center-left Third Way think tank, told Insider.
"So a pure excise tax that isn't set so high as to end all sales should pass the Byrd rule," Moller said, referring the rule governing what meets the requirements to be included in a filibuster-proof bill.
https://www.businessinsider.com/dem...gress-gun-control-biden-administration-2022-6
The recent string of high-profile shootings in the US is prompting one House Democrat to draft a measure designed to severely restrict access to the AR-15-style weapons used by gunmen in the carnage. Rep. Don Beyer of Virginia, a member of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, wants to impose a 1,000% excise tax on such semiautomatic rifles.
"What it's intended to do is provide another creative pathway to actually make some sensible gun control happen," Beyer told Insider. "We think that a 1,000% fee on assault weapons is just the kind of restrictive measure that creates enough fiscal impact to qualify for reconciliation."
New AR-15-style guns cost anywhere from $500 to over $2,000 depending on location, NBC News reported. That means a 1,000% tax on the weapons would add $5,000 to $20,000 to their final sales prices — and would probably keep them out of reach from many younger Americans.
Some details of the bill still aren't finalized, such as when the tax would take effect and what to do with any revenue raised. It's also unclear how much money it would generate. The National Shooting Sports Foundation in a 2014 court brief cited estimates that AR-15-style rifles accounted for one in five guns purchased in the US. Gun sales have surged since then and last year reached their second-highest level recorded.
Law-enforcement agencies and the US military wouldn't be subject to the tax, Beyer said. The legislation would also apply only to future sales and not to the 20 million AR-15-style rifles already estimated to be in circulation across the US. Other guns used for hunting and other recreational purposes would also be exempt.
Bullets wouldn't be subject to the new tax. But high-capacity magazines that can carry more than 10 rounds of ammunition would be aggressively taxed at that level.
Beyer's definition of an "assault weapon" closely mirrors a measure that Rep. David Cicilline of Rhode Island is pushing. That bill would ban weapons with at least one military characteristic like a pistol grip or a forward grip.
House Democrats are rallying around their own expansive gun-control package separate from Senate negotiations on a narrower bill centered on mental health, red-flag laws, and a modest expansion of background checks. The House bill is expected to fall flat in the upper chamber with stiff GOP resistance.
That likelihood prompted Beyer to eye reconciliation, the legislative tactic allowing proposed laws to bypass the Senate's 60-vote threshold known as the filibuster and pass with a simple majority. Democrats employed the maneuver in 2021 to approve both the stimulus law and the House-approved Build Back Better bill over united GOP resistance.
One expert says Beyer's measure most likely qualifies for inclusion in a smaller spending bill containing pieces of President Joe Biden's climate and tax agenda. Democrats hope to revive it by summer's end.
"Taxes get more deference in budget reconciliation than other policies from a parliamentarian point of view," Zach Moller, the director of the economic program at the center-left Third Way think tank, told Insider.
"So a pure excise tax that isn't set so high as to end all sales should pass the Byrd rule," Moller said, referring the rule governing what meets the requirements to be included in a filibuster-proof bill.
