Dozens of Republican representatives are backing a bill that seeks to eliminate a federal tax on firearms and ammunition — which has served as a major source of funding to state wildlife management agencies for 85 years.
The legislation, proposed by Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., last month, is called the RETURN (Repealing Excise Tax on Unalienable Rights Now) our Constitutional Rights Act of 2022, and would eliminate the 11% federal tax on hunting firearms, ammunition and bows and arrows that is part of the Pittman-Robertson Act. It would also eliminate a 10% tax on handguns.
The Pittman-Robertson Act was established in 1937, and tax funds collected from hunters go to a wildlife restoration fund, where they are allocated to state wildlife departments such as the Idaho Department of Fish and Game. Similar legislation, called the Dingell-Johnson Act, collects taxes on fishing equipment to be used by wildlife agencies.
