BELLEVUE, WA – For the third consecutive year, Seattle’s so-called “gun violence tax” revenue on firearms and ammunition has fallen dramatically below original forecasts, and in the process, has continued failing to prevent violent crime as homicides climbed last year, and this week’s tragic shootings affirm, the Second Amendment Foundation said today.
“The failure of this gun tax to accomplish anything good was as predictable as November rain in Seattle,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “Monday evening’s shooting of a mother and her 10-month-old child in a park area, and Wednesday morning’s fatal shooting in North Seattle simply amplify the fact that the city administration’s scheme has been a catastrophe when it comes to reducing crime.”
Information obtained by TheGunMag.com shows the city last year collected only $77,518. That is down more than $15,700 from the 2017 revenue of $93,220.74, which was more than $10,000 below the $103,766.22 collected in 2016, the first year of the tax. The GunMag.com and SAF had to file a Public Records Act lawsuit to force the city to reveal its revenue data, which was dramatically below the $300,000 to $500,000 initially predicted by former Councilman Tim Burgess, who championed the tax in 2015. The tax imposes a $25 fee on the sale of each firearm, and a 5-cent tax on each centerfire cartridge sold in the city.
“This new tax not only failed to bring in the revenue that was forecast,” Gottlieb observed, “it was accompanied by an alarming spike in Seattle homicides last year. On top of that, the tax has driven firearms and sporting goods business out of the city, which many people believe was the actual intent all along.
“Seattle residents were promised pie-in-the-sky,” he added, “and so far, they haven’t even gotten a decent crust. We fought this gun tax in court because we felt, and still do, that it violates the state preemption law. We were also convinced, and remain so today, that the revenue predictions were deceptive, if not downright delusional.
“Seattle’s gun violence tax has been a miserable flop,” Gottlieb concluded. “It has provided a false sense of accomplishment while penalizing business owners and the law-abiding citizens they once served. If the city council had any sense of responsibility, it would repeal this tax and let its memory disappear into the dust bin of municipal history.”