Pittman–Robertson Act

bigwheelzip

bigwheelzip

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Chatting with the SCDNR range safety officer on Friday, and he thinks that a major structural improvement is coming to the state range in Pickens this summer, with most of the funds coming from the 11% Pittman-Robertson Act taxes on guns and ammo. He also said that most funds to operate these free-to-use staffed DNR ranges are from this tax.
First I'd heard of this tax, and a silver lining on the higher prices we've seen lately.
 
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Fed Excise Tax charged on 'Firearms and Ammunition Excise Tax". FAET
I think it's 10% on new mfg of handguns
11% on long guns and ammunition

Of course any tax paid by a mfg'r to the Govt is passed on to the end buyer in a simple increase in the retail price.
We pay this tax. It's included in the new gun or ammo price tag

The initial tax is paid by the Mfg'r of the above firearms and ammo when made.
Paid Quarterly to the US Treasury just like you pay your Estimated Income Tax

It's due as soon as the firearm becomes a 'usable' firearm. Most decide that it's when they are ser#'d.
Ammo as soon as it's loaded.
Tax is due in that Quarter of the calendar year.


The Pittman-Robertson act (1937) was set up to use money from the FAET barrel of money to directly help conservation/hunting/wildlife, etc.
Fed Excise Tax is collected on a number of goods when made and sold.

The money for P-R comes only from the excise tax collected firearms and ammo.
The orig law had language in it that the tax collected was only to be used to help in conservation of wildlife and further hunting and shooting sports & activitys .
(I don't have the exact orig wording, it also had something to do with license fees going straight to State Conservation Depts as well to be used only for wildlife conservation )

P-R got a new name a while back and is now called the 'Fed Aid to Wildlife Restoration' (Fund?).
That program decides how much and to which States money is handed out from the FAET pot of money.

Depending on the State and how they view hunting, target ranges and perhaps favoring walking trails, boat docks, scenic overlooks,,$ can be often used to favor one group over another and still seem to be on the side of 'Conservation and Wildlife'

But the P-R money only comes from excise tax on firearms and ammo.

That's been one complaint. Use of the P-R excise tax money for projects outside of the Hunting & Shooting .
 
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679 million dollars spent in FY 2021 alone for wildlife. see the attached third page for each state share of the funds. My home state of Alabama received over 15 million for FY 21. It is amazing on the amount of money taken in by hunters and fishermen since 1937 that has been spent on wildlife. Most of the management areas in Alabama have been made possible by these funds. This is the best tax ever passed in DC in my opinion. If it had not been for the forsight of people like Pittman and Robertson, we would not have all the great places to shoot, hunt and fish in our country.
https://www.fws.gov/wsfrprograms/Subpages/GrantPrograms/WR/WRFinalApportionment2021.pdf
 
Archery equip is excise taxed as well at 11%as part of P-R .

The Feds use a complicated bunch of formulas to figure out what each State gets each yr from the FAET money pot.

Certain % of what ever money each state is gifted is earmarked for certain projects in general.
Even the total sum of FAET collected has some set % amts that must be sent to the states for specific use.
Example: Of the total FAET collected in one calendar yr from handgun mfg excise tax @ 10%,, 1/2 of that total must be used by the States for Hunter Education.
It's not split up evenly by 50/states and the Territorys.
There is another formula they use to distribute the amts to the States & Terr. They use things like Hunting Licenses sold in a State, # of Licenses compared to the total sold Nationally,,the land mass sq/mi of the State,,,things like that.

The entire system is a complicated typical gov't run system with likely as not a very high cost to keep it running like that.

The ATF Tax & Trade Bureau is the collection/enforcement agency for the Firearms & Ammunition Excise Tax.
The IRS handles the job of collection/enforcement of P/R Excise tax on Archery equipment.

So if you are an FFL Mfg'r 07 (as differnt from an FFL Dealer 01) ,,you get checked for this FAET during an ATF compliance check along w/ the normal FFL Log Book, 4473, Nics check, inventory paperwork stuff.
 
2152hq said:
Archery equip is excise taxed as well at 11%as part of P-R .
Click to expand...
There is also an archery range and a dove hunting field at this SCDNR range. I've used their archery range, and it's a tired design with minimal backstops. I hope if the construction happens, they show this section some love also.
Consider myself lucky to have easy access to this free facility as it is, and will be well chuffed if it's brought up to modern standards.


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This has long been a mystery tax. Unfortunately the stares have done many stance things with the money. Some get real help for the sportspeople, yet my state has in the past used it for wages for beaucrats. It is the typical government abuse of its people.
 
What do they pay the tax on?


The tax on a new rifle is 11%. Ruger builds a new 77, and that cost them $200. They sell that rifle to Davidson's for $300. Davidson's sells it to Sports South for $400. Sports South sells it to Joe's Gun Shoppe for $500. Joe hangs it on the rack with a tag that says $750, but he will come down to 675 so you think you got a bargain.


What did they tax? The 200 it cost, or the 300 or the 400 or the 500 or the 750 that it was sold at?
 
2152hq said:
P-R got a new name a while back and is now called the 'Fed Aid to Wildlife Restoration' (Fund?).
Click to expand...

It was always the "Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act", passed in 1937. "Pittman-Robertson" is the common name everyone uses because the major sponsors were Sen. Key Pittman of Nevada and Rep. Absalom Willis Robertson of Virginia. It's one tax that I support 100% and I'm happy to pay my 10-11%.

In 1950, a similar law was passed to cover sport fish (Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration Act, commonly known as "Dingell-Johnson" after its primary sponsors). I'm happy to pay that one also.

Our state Fish and Game Department gets a significant amount of its operating budget from these sources, which I'm sure is the case in other states as well.
 
Alpo said:
What do they pay the tax on?


The tax on a new rifle is 11%. Ruger builds a new 77, and that cost them $200. They sell that rifle to Davidson's for $300. Davidson's sells it to Sports South for $400. Sports South sells it to Joe's Gun Shoppe for $500. Joe hangs it on the rack with a tag that says $750, but he will come down to 675 so you think you got a bargain.


What did they tax? The 200 it cost, or the 300 or the 400 or the 500 or the 750 that it was sold at?
Click to expand...

A simple answ is that the Excise Tax is based on the Manufacturers Suggested Retail Value of the complete firearm and any attached accessorys.

But in reality it is way more complicated. There are some different applications for different business types as to when the tax is applied or figured. So the product can be valued differently and the tax is then higher or lower.
If you really want to get a headache,,here's the Gov'ts regs on figuring out what the 'Sale Price' is on an item for the purposes of Excise Tax.

eCFR
::
27 CFR Part 53 Subpart J -- Special Provisions Applicable to Manufacturers Taxes

If I ever statrt to wonder why I got out of that area of gunbuilding,,I only have to start re-reading stuff like this.




Muzzle Loader firearms are taxed as well
Even though they are not 'Firearms' under the GCA68,, they are considered "Firearms' under the Excise Tax & Trade provision of the IRS regs.
11% on long guns
10% on handguns.

Gunsmith John Bivins, now gone, went up against the US Govt over Excise Tax the Govt said he owed on Penna Bi-Centennial Longrifles he built.
He said they weren't 'firearms' and didn't owe the Tax
He lost after a long court battle in the 80's.
If anything at all good came from it, it was the following:
There is a provision giving FFL that produce 50 and fewer pieces per yr the exemption from paying Excise Tax on those mfg'rd firearms.
A small win for the small maker.
But..
If you produce firearm #51 during that yr,,you now own Fed Excise Tax on it.....and on the other 50 you produced during the year as well.

Also in the mix is how many imported,,(they can get excise taxed as well) over a two calendar yr period.
You can get hung with paying the Tax if you Import under 50 each yr, but sell less ,,or perhaps it's more,,than certain number in the same time period. then you owe the Tax on the entire 100.
Very confusing at least to me.

For the purposes of the Excise Tax,,'Manufacturing a Firearm' has a very broad meaning. It can include small modifications to existing firearms such as mounting a scope on one that needs D&T to do so, restocking, some refinishing processes, etc.


Ammunition is charged at the 11% rate on the retail value of the ammo.
Those that mfg and sell 'Re-loaded' & Remanufactured ammuntition are charged the same rate on their ammunition.

Someone that in the business of Reloading Ammo and reselling it can avoid paying the Excise Tax on the reloaded ammo by segregating brass provided by a customer.
Then reloading just that segregated brass just for that customer that provided it, and then returning the reloaded ammo put up in that brass to the orig customer.
That's about the only senario I've run across where the Excise Tax can be avoided on Mfg Ammunition by a Commercial (in the business) Reloader.
 
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There is a dictionary which states that a firearm is only a smokepole muzzle loader, etc. but like any other Government agency ATF and IRS are sure to see to it that no matter how right you may be, you are going to lose in the court of a magistrate judge. They will drag the case out until you give up because you've run out of funds to win or just get tired of fighting the government. There are words for such people and operations, but since I have no desire to be banned from the forum, I'll keep my fingers to myself.
 
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