New Gun Tax for Cook County, Previous Gun Tax Ruled Unconstitutional

AmmoLand ^ | November 29, 2021 | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

On November 4, 2021, the Cook County (where Chicago is located), Illinois board amended a gun and ammunition tax which had been ruled unconstitutional by the Illinois Supreme Court on October 21, 2021.

From chicagotribune.com:

Cook County commissioners voted Thursday to amend a guns and ammunition tax that was found unconstitutional by the Illinois Supreme Court, aiming to give the measure another lifeline by designating that money for violence prevention.

In a 12-2 vote, with three commissioners absent, the county board approved the amendment, which states all revenue from the firearm and ammunition tax must go toward programs or operations geared toward gun violence prevention. The passage follows an Oct. 21 ruling from the state’s highest court that found the levy was unconstitutional.

This fulfilled the prediction of Justice Michael J. Burke, in a special concurrence. From the Illinois Supreme Court ruling:

Justice Michael J. Burke, specially concurring:

Moreover, the reason why those statutes preempt handgun regulations, not handgun taxes, is obvious—the Illinois Constitution only allows the legislature to preempt regulations, not taxes. And taxes that infringe the right to keep and bear arms are already precluded by the Illinois Constitution. See Ill. Const. 1970, art. I, § 22; id. art. VII, § 6. Moreover, even if the statutes mentioned by the County did intend to specifically preserve for home rule units the power to tax handguns in the manner under consideration here, that would not show that the framers of our constitution intended to authorize a home-rule unit’s discriminatory taxation of firearms, where the text of that constitution clearly prohibits taxation that infringes on the right to keep and bear arms.

A new challenge to the amended tax seems likely.

[marktwain]

Justice Michael J. Burke predicted exactly this result.

Now the issue goes back into the courts.

[wny]

Soon Chicago residents will need to pay tax on each bulletin that enters their body.

[Steven Tyler]

Violence is never ending in Cook County

The guns are not walking around committing acts of violence

[gundog]

How long before a black market for illegal guns develops? /s

Blame capitalism.

[The Antiyuppie]

“Soon Chicago residents will need to pay tax on each bulletin that enters their body.”

Actually, the tax might have had a better chance if the revenue had been directed towards defraying the eight figure yearly bill the county health care system racks up every year digging those bullets out. Apparently, many of the victims do NOT have insurance, not even Obamacare. You can guess who pays for that.

[sauropod]

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