Ohio lawmakers look at shooting down sales taxes on guns, ammo, and gun-safety devices

A man fires a gun

Bills introduced in the Ohio House would exempt most guns, ammo, and gun-safety devices from Ohio sales tax. (Rogelio V. Solis, Associated Press, file)

COLUMBUS, Ohio—The Ohio General Assembly has been moving in the past few years to pass sales-tax exemptions for many things that people need in their daily lives, from feminine hygiene items to, most recently, baby products.

Now, state lawmakers are looking at adding guns, ammunition, and firearm-safety devices to that list of exemptions, arguing they’re also necessary items for Ohioans.

“We’ve seen time and time again, the legislature’s been active in removing sales taxes for essential items, like baby items,” said state Rep. Josh Williams, a Toledo-area Republican co-sponsoring House Bill 189, which would exempt “portable firearms” like rifles, shotguns, pistols, and revolvers, as well as the the bullets for them, from state sales tax.

If HB189 passes, Williams said, it would be “helping protect the individual’s right to exercise their Second Amendment (rights), making sure that lower-income Ohioans are not excluded from the ability to protect their homes and persons and family members.”

State Rep. Al Cutrona, a Youngstown-area Republican who introduced HB189 earlier this week, noted that Ohio doesn’t charge sales tax for newspapers. “That’s things that cover the First Amendment. I thought to myself, ‘Why are we taxing our Second Amendment rights?’ ”

Ohio’s sales tax rate is 5.75%, meaning a person buying a $500 gun in the state currently would have to pay $28.75 in sales tax. Under the bill, state sales tax would still be charged for purchases of shotguns larger than .50 caliber or ten gauge.

Exempting small arms and ammo from sales tax would reduce state revenue by about $15 million or so per year, Cutrona said.

A different bill, sponsored by Ohio House Democrats, would lift sales taxes on gun safes, gun cases, or other devices designed to prevent access to a gun without a key, code, or biometric data.

State Rep. Darnell Brewer, a Cleveland Democrat co-sponsoring the legislation, House Bill 186, said he hopes a sales-tax exemption would be an incentive for Ohioans to buy gun safety devices. “Hopefully, it becomes commonplace that we buy those type of devices, that we help keep safe storage and keep these (guns) out of the hands of individuals, such as children,” who may use them inappropriately, said Brewer, noting that a 7-year-old in his district recently died after being shot by her younger sibling.

Cutrona and Williams said they are open to the idea of ending sales taxes on gun-safety devices, so long as Brewer’s bill isn’t changed to mandate the use of such devices.

Zach Schiller, research director of Policy Matters Ohio, a left-leaning think tank, didn’t express opposition to exempting sales taxes specifically for guns, ammo, or gun-safety devices. But he said that, in general, every time lawmakers pick various products to exempt from sales taxes, it’s a financial blow to the state.

“Taxation is needed because we need to educate our students. We need to make sure that kids aren’t poisoned with lead. We need to make sure that there’s adequate childcare,” Schiller said. “To start choosing all kinds of individual items that suddenly we decide are absolutely critical and exempt from taxation, we’re devaluing all of these other public goods that we so badly need. …(To) exempt guns, of all things, to me seems wildly inappropriate.”

Gun manufacturing incentives

HB189, Cutrona’s bill, wouldn’t just lift sales taxes on guns and ammo. It would also offer state tax credits to manufacturers of small arms or ammunition that invest at least $2 million in opening or expanding a facility in Ohio.

Cutrona said when he went to the 2021 SHOT show, a firearm trade show, he spoke with gun and ammo manufacturing executives who said they wanted to relocate to more gun-friendly states. In recent years, officials in other Republican-controlled states have successfully lured a number of small-arms makers, including Beretta and Remington Firearms, away from states with stricter gun laws.

Cutrona said that the tax credits in HB189 would it make it highly likely that an arms company the size of Remington would move to Ohio.

“We just got Intel here to Ohio, right?” Cutrona said, referring to the tech giant’s construction of a massive semiconductor plant near Columbus with the help of more than $2 billion in state incentives. “Businesses want to come to Ohio if there’s that incentive to come here, and I think that this is one of those great opportunities that we may be able to capitalize on as a state.”

Schiller, however, said research has shown that those kind of tax inducements tend not to be a major factor in companies’ decisions about where to move.

“If we feel it’s appropriate policy to simply just give away money to arms manufacturers, then yes, this is an appropriate measure,” Schiller said. “But I don’t think that it’s a wise use of our resources.”

Jeremy Pelzer covers state politics and policy for cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer

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