Dems plans to introduce a bill that would hit AR-15's with a 1,000% tax

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Rep. Donald Beyer of Virginia, a member of the tax-writing Ways and Means panel, wants to impose a 1,000% excise tax on assault weapons.

"What it's intended to do is provide another creative pathway to actually make some sensible gun control happen," Beyer told Insider. "We think that a 1,000% fee on assault weapons is just the kind of restrictive measure that creates enough fiscal impact to to qualify for reconciliation."

New AR-15-style guns range from $500 to over $2,000 depending on location, NBC News reported. That means a 1,000% tax on the weapon would add $5,000 to $20,000 to their final sales price

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House Democrats are rallying around their own expansive gun-control package separate from ongoing Senate negotiations on a narrower bill centered on mental health, red flag laws, and a modest expansion of background checks. The House bill is expected to fall flat in the upper chamber due to stiff GOP resistance.

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That probable outcome prompted Beyer to eye reconciliation, the legislative tactic allowing proposed laws to bypass the Senate's 60-vote threshold known as the filibuster and pass with a simple majority. Democrats employed the maneuver in 2021 to push through the stimulus law and the House-approved Build Back Better bill over united GOP resistance.

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One expert says his measure likely qualifies for inclusion in a smaller spending bill containing pieces of President Joe Biden's climate and tax agenda that Democrats hope to revive by summer's end.

"Taxes get more deference in budget reconciliation than other policies from a parliamentarian point of view," Zach Moller, director of the economic program at the center-left Third Way think tank, told Insider.

"So a pure excise tax that isn't set so high as to end all sales should pass the Byrd rule," Moller said, referring the rule governing what meets the requirements to be included in a filibuster-proof bill.

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