(Olympia, WA) As Washington state grapples with an operating budget shortfall upwards of $16 billion through 2029, House Democrats are proposing a tax on firearms and ammunition to take the total combined rate as high as 33%.
The state already levies its 6.5% sales and use tax on firearms, ammunition and parts, with local rates adding 0.5% to 4.1% depending on the area. The federal government also collects a 10% to 11% excise tax for a total combined rate of 17% to 22.1%.
If you live in Seattle, you pay even more since it adopted its own firearms and ammunition tax in 2016. The city levies a $25 fee for every gun sold and a 2-cent tax per round of .22 caliber ammunition, with that increasing to 5 cents per round for other calibers.
On Tuesday, the House Finance Committee held a public hearing over House Bill 1386, which 18 Democrats sponsored to levy another 11% excise tax on firearms, ammunition and parts. If approved, it would raise the total rate from 17% to 22.1%, not including Seattle, to 28% to 33.1%.
“Suicide prevention, firearm domestic violence prevention and victim services are underfunded compared to the needs across Washington,” Karyn Brownson testified Tuesday on behalf of King County & Seattle Public Health. “In a time of budget difficulties, it makes sense to direct tax revenue from potentially harmful consumer products to work responding to those harms.”
However, the proposal only directs the Legislature to appropriate the tax revenue to gun violence prevention through 2027. According to a fiscal note, HB 1386 could generate $165.8 million from 3,100 taxpayers through 2035, but only $22.9 million would go toward prevention efforts.
If approved, the remaining $142.9 million would go toward the general fund for other priorities, such as filling a shortfall. Sen. Noel Frame, D-Seattle, emailed the 11% idea along with several other “2025 Revenue Options,” adding up to over $15 billion to the entire Senate last month.
Critics argued Tuesday that HB 1386 would disproportionately impact low-income, law-abiding citizens. The bill would prove a more significant barrier to those who struggle to afford the new tax, which would far exceed the compounding rate of inflation.
While some cited the law as unconstitutional, the Washington Supreme Court upheld Seattle’s tax on firearms and ammo in 2017. California has a similar 11% excise tax, which the National Rifle Association filed a lawsuit against in July.
“As a student, I’m a statistic,” Mahika Maladi, a senior at The Overlake School, testified. “I’m part of a percentage of students who hasn’t been killed by an AR-15 at school, but that could too easily change.”
According to HB 1386, a firearm-related death happens every 14 hours in Washington, with suicides accounting for about 69% of those in 2021. Many cited the need for more gun violence and suicide prevention funding during their testimony as federal funding dries up.
Still, others felt the measure violates the Second Amendment, with some critics even comparing the proposal to poll taxing, which used to disenfranchise black voters in the Jim Crow Era. Washington adopted a poll tax in 1921, which voters overwhelmingly rejected the following year.
NRA State Director Avian Klein told the committee that “the power to tax is the power to destroy.” She argued the bill would only inhibit an individual’s right to bear arms while catapulting the black market as consumers search for a cheaper alternative.
“Similar attacks drove businesses out of [Seattle’s] jurisdiction when it failed to meet revenue projections while violent crime continued,” Klein testified. “If this tax is permitted, there is no stopping at 50% or 100% tax on any other constitutional right.”
The House Finance Committee has not scheduled an executive session for the proposal yet. While a number of people testified in support and against HB 1386 on Tuesday, 574 individuals who signed up virtually did so in support, with 1,306 others against the new excise tax.
If approved, HB 1386 would take effect Jan. 1, 2026.
