Chicago Official Proposes ‘Bullet Tax’ To Curb Gun Violence


A Chicago official has proposed putting a tax on the sale of every bullet and firearm sold in the nation’s second-largest county.

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle will submit a budget proposal Thursday that would add a tax of a nickel for each bullet and $25 for each firearm. Her office estimates that the “bullet tax” will generate around $1 million in revenue a year, which would go to services such as medical care for gunshot victims.

The tax would not apply to law enforcement officials, but the Cook County Board said it would apply to the 40 federally licensed gun dealers in the county.

Preckwinkle said the proposal is more about addressing and trying to cut down on gun violence than raising money for a county that faces a $100 million deficit. Preckwinkle said:

“We think that’s an appropriate thing to do, especially in the light of the gun violence we struggle to deal with in our criminal justice system and our public health system. The legal gun shops in suburban Cook County are a conduit for crimes in Chicago. There’s no way around it.”

Preckwinkle’s spokeswoman Kristen Mack said the office hasn’t found any other jurisdiction in the country that imposes a bullet tax, although it has been considered. Lawmakers in Springfield introduced similar legislation, but it was not voted on.

Richard Pearson, executive director of the Illinois State Rifle Association, said all Preckwinkle’s proposal would do is make people go elsewhere for guns.

“If she wants to get to the people causing all the problems she ought to put a tax on street gangs,” Pearson said. “All this is going to do is drive business out of Cook County, into other counties, Indiana and Wisconsin.”

Fred Lutger, owner of Freddie Bear Sport, said his customers will shop at other gun stores if the tax goes through. He also disagreed with the money going to gunshot victims.

“Why should we be paying for gang bangers shooting each other? You’re taxing law-abiding citizens for what criminals are doing,” Lutger said.

Both Lutger and Pearson believed Preckwinkle was in for a legal challenge as soon as she proposed the tax, and Preckwinkle agreed but didn’t change her mind.

“You can’t make decisions based on the basis of whether or not somebody’s going to sue you or then you’ll never do anything,” she said.

So far this year, there have been 409 homicides in Chicago compared to 324 during the same time period last year. The city also reported five consecutive months of shooting reductions and a 30 percent drop in the murder rate through September. While this is significantly less than the almost 900 homicides the city faced in the 1990s, local officials say gang violence was the main cause for the number of shootings that occurred earlier this year.

What do you think of Preckwinkle’s “bullet tax” proposal?

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