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South Carolina will offer tax-free holiday on guns
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Published: November 19, 2009
COLUMBIA, S.C. - South Carolina shoppers will get a second chance to buy tax-free guns.
The state Revenue Department sent out a reminder yesterday of the "Second Amendment Weekend." The 48-hour tax break begins just after midnight the Friday after Thanksgiving.
Shoppers will pay no state or local sales taxes on handguns, rifles and shotguns, which can tally 9 percent. Taxes still apply to ammunition and accessories.
South Carolina had the nation's first tax holiday on guns last year, after legislators tacked it on to a tax break on energy-efficient appliances. But the state Supreme Court threw out that law in May because of an unrelated energy amendment. Legislators restored the tax break as a one-time event in the budget this year.
Louisiana followed this year with its own sales-tax holiday for hunters in September. That break went further, applying to any item that can be used for hunting or fishing, including off-road vehicles and airboats.
South Carolina is the only state to designate a tax-free weekend during two of the year's biggest shopping days.
How much shoppers saved in the gun-friendly state last Thanksgiving weekend is unknown. State economic officials estimated it would cost the state about $15,000.
The National Rifle Association praises the idea. But the director of a nonprofit group that advocates for changes in South Carolina's tax structure said "there is no good tax reason to have a gun sales-tax holiday."
"It isn't tax policy. It's gun policy," said John Ruoff of South Carolina Fair Share.
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