Well, it started on July 1st, and it came so quietly that it flew under the radar.
Effective July 1st, if you have a firearm shipped to you in WA State, you will pay State sales tax. This tax varies according to local taxes, but will average around 8.5%.
What this means is illustrated by this example: If you order a firearm from a dealer out of State--or win one on Gunbroker--you will pay State tax in addition to the transfer fee the FFL charges.
"So," you say, "that means that I'll have a friend buy one, fire one round, then ship it through an FFL as a gift. Or, maybe they'll just ship it to me as a gift." Right?
Wrong.
The receiving FFL will have to STILL charge you the tax on the ESTIMATED RETAIL VALUE OF THE FIREARM.
Let me explain.
Say you have a friend in another State who wants to sell you a Barrett, in 6.8 SPC. That's about $2700 worth of rifle, without optics. It is a used gun, but your friend sells it to you for $1000, out the door--well below the book value of the rifle.
When the rifle arrives at the FFL, you will pay the tax on the estimated (Blue Book, I believe) value of the gun--not the amount you actually paid.
Two things have happened here...
One, by the stroke of a pen, Washington State has now almost stopped the importation of privately sold firearms. How so? I have found out that almost every store in my region--which includes the retailers, and the shops like the Marksman, Bullseye Shooter's Supply, Federal Way Discount Guns, Champion Arms and others have stopped accepting these transfers--because the paperwork and accounting is so difficult that the shops do NOT want to do it.
Two: This favors the big retailers, who have the buying power to keep a LOT of guns in stock--like Cabela's.
And no--I am NOT saying that Cabela's would be a party to such garbage. It's just interesting--and disheartening--to see.
If anyone knows of a shop or FFL that will still accept out of state transfers, let me know--please.
Effective July 1st, if you have a firearm shipped to you in WA State, you will pay State sales tax. This tax varies according to local taxes, but will average around 8.5%.
What this means is illustrated by this example: If you order a firearm from a dealer out of State--or win one on Gunbroker--you will pay State tax in addition to the transfer fee the FFL charges.
"So," you say, "that means that I'll have a friend buy one, fire one round, then ship it through an FFL as a gift. Or, maybe they'll just ship it to me as a gift." Right?
Wrong.
The receiving FFL will have to STILL charge you the tax on the ESTIMATED RETAIL VALUE OF THE FIREARM.
Let me explain.
Say you have a friend in another State who wants to sell you a Barrett, in 6.8 SPC. That's about $2700 worth of rifle, without optics. It is a used gun, but your friend sells it to you for $1000, out the door--well below the book value of the rifle.
When the rifle arrives at the FFL, you will pay the tax on the estimated (Blue Book, I believe) value of the gun--not the amount you actually paid.
Two things have happened here...
One, by the stroke of a pen, Washington State has now almost stopped the importation of privately sold firearms. How so? I have found out that almost every store in my region--which includes the retailers, and the shops like the Marksman, Bullseye Shooter's Supply, Federal Way Discount Guns, Champion Arms and others have stopped accepting these transfers--because the paperwork and accounting is so difficult that the shops do NOT want to do it.
Two: This favors the big retailers, who have the buying power to keep a LOT of guns in stock--like Cabela's.
And no--I am NOT saying that Cabela's would be a party to such garbage. It's just interesting--and disheartening--to see.
If anyone knows of a shop or FFL that will still accept out of state transfers, let me know--please.