South Carolina and Louisiana already have "Second Amendment sales tax holidays," and an Oklahoma state senator wants to add his state to the list. The Tax Foundation argues that it is "a shining example of how not to approach tax policy," writing, "a sales tax holiday to encourage citizens to exercise their Second Amendment rights is hard to justify. Would anyone support a plan by the state treasurer to send out checks to individuals who elect to stand on street corners and exercise their right to free speech? What about a check for those who exercise their freedom of religion?"
It seems to me that the Tax Foundation, which is usually pretty sound on tax matters, has the comparison a bit off in this case. In fact, religious institutions do enjoy tax exempt status, in part to encourage the free exercise of religion. And many state and local jurisdictions exempt newspapers from sales tax as a bow to the First Amendment freedom of the press. That's not an argument for or against applying sales taxes on guns, or temporarily removing such taxes. It's just saying that such an idea isn't as far-fetched, in relation to other freedoms enshrined in the Bill of Rights, as the Tax Foundation suggests.
