Court kills South Carolina's gun sales tax holiday

May 6, 12:07 AMColumbia Conservative ExaminerAnthony G. Martin

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With one brief stroke of the pen, the South Carolina Supreme Court struck down the state's gun sales tax holiday that citizens have enjoyed since 2008 during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

And the ruling was based upon a technicality.

In the past, the Court would simply delete unconstitutional or unacceptable issues unrelated to the subject of the bill, and then rule in favor of the main text of the legislation.

However, the Court decided to change its rules during this session. Under the new rule, if a bill is submitted with unrelated, unconstitutional issues attached, the Court will simply strike down the entire bill rather than striking down only the part that is unconstitutional.

As expected, the ruling has the bill's sponsors and the citizens up in arms.

According to a report in The State:

State Rep. Mike Pitts, R-Laurens, who pushed for the gun sales tax holiday — held for the first time the weekend after Thanksgiving — disagreed with the ruling.

“What they did was legislate from the bench, which is absolutely what they’re not designed to do,” he said Monday.

Further,

Pitts, a retired Greenville police officer, said the sales tax holiday was the first of its kind in the nation, adding that other states, including Georgia, are trying to copy it.

“What our great Supreme Court has done to us is to send our people to Georgia to purchase guns if they pass their bill,” he said.

The state Board of Economic Advisors earlier estimated the state would lose $15,000 in sales tax on gun purchases during the S.C. holiday weekend, said Mike Sponhour, spokesman for the S.C. Budget and Control Board. But Pitts said taxes on residual sales — of ammunition, holsters and other related items that were taxed — likely more than made up for the sales tax loss.

Of course, the legislature can fix the problem easily enough by simply submitting a clean bill that pertains exclusively to the gun sales tax holiday.  In the meantime, however, citizens will not be afforded the tax break upon which many depend in order to meet their firearms needs.

And the state's highest court proves that it will not hesitate to change the rules in the middle of the ballgame if it suits whatever agenda they happen to have on their plate at the time.

Source:  The State

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