The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

Today's Front Page

March 16, 2010

Manchin says he may veto gun sales tax holiday

By Lawrence Messina Associated Press

CHARLESTON — Gov. Joe Manchin appears ready to test his endorsement from the National Rifle Association, saying Tuesday he would not rule out vetoing NRA-backed legislation that would offer gun buyers an annual break from West Virginia’s 6 percent sales tax.

“That gives me heartburn. That’s pure heartburn,” Manchin told reporters while discussing the just-completed legislative session in his Capitol office.

While adding that he will give the bill a full review, the governor expressed concerns about any measure that reduces the state’s already-weak revenues.

“I can’t look at children in the eye, and struggling families in the eye, and all these people in the eye and say, ’I’m sorry we couldn’t help you, but, by God, if you want to buy a gun, we can really take care of you,”’ Manchin said.

The bill passed just before the Legislature concluded its regular session Saturday. It would exempt firearms from the sales tax during the first weekend of each October.

Endorsed 96-2 by the House of Delegates earlier in the session, senators voted 25-9 to send the bill to the governor after several complained of NRA pressure to pass it. The group has touted the bill’s passage on its Web site. NRA officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday.

Supporters of the House-sponsored bill, dubbed the “The Second Amendment Appreciation Act,” included Senate Majority Leader Truman Chafin, D-Mingo. Facing a tough re-election primary in May, the Mingo County Democrat heralded the measure in a press release issued just minutes after its passage.

“Any of our hunters who want a new gun for hunting season can use that weekend to make their purchase a little less costly,” he said in the statement. “If it is a gun you want, that would be the weekend to purchase it.”

Manchin’s Tax Department estimated that the annual holiday would save consumers, and cost the state, around $25,000. The nonpartisan Tax Foundation, which advocates broad-based, simple and stable tax policies, frowns on such temporary measures.

“It’s just a political gimmick,” said Mark Robyn, one of its staff economists. “It’s really just a way for politicians to go on record as being tax cutters and being supportive of gun rights. But it’s not really a good way of cutting taxes.”

The foundation also favors a neutral tax system. For sales taxes, Robyn said, that means policies that don’t try to tell consumers which products to buy, or when.

South Carolina and Louisiana offer such a holiday for gun sales, while Oklahoma lawmakers are considering one, Robyn said. Similar legislation in Mississippi appears stalled, he added. Under Manchin, West Virginia has halted an annual back-to-school sales tax holiday but created one in 2008 that exempts Energy Star-rated products costing up to $2,500. That tax break will expire after a final, Sept. 1 - Nov. 30 holiday.

The NRA has a following in West Virginia, a state steeped in traditions of hunting and firearm ownership. More members of the House and Senate boast of NRA membership in their official biographies — at least 42 in the two chambers — than of any other group. Its Political Victory Fund awarded 96 of the 134 incumbent legislators “A” or “A+” ratings during their last election bids, according to the nonpartisan Project Vote Smart.

Also boasting an “A+,” Manchin enjoyed the NRA’s endorsement during his 2004 and 2008 runs for governor.

“The bottom line is, I took an oath to be responsible in what we do and how we do it, and I’m not backing down from that,” the governor told reporters.

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