Guns.com by Chris Eger 8/31/2020
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat who ordered gun sales halted in the state due to COVID, last week unveiled a plan to hit gun owners with millions in new taxes to fund the state.
Murphy's budget proposal for 2021 includes borrowing $4 billion without the approval of voters while new levies on gun owners is expected to wring another $6.3 million over an eight-month period through increases on mandatory firearms taxes and licensing fees. This comes as Murphy told lawmakers he remains, "as committed to seeing through our vision of creating a stronger and fairer New Jersey as I have ever been."
As detailed in an analysis by the Association of New Jersey Rifle & Pistol Clubs, under Murphy's new tax scheme, the cost of a pistol purchase permit would increase from $2 to $48-- a 2,300 percent increase-- and Firearms Identification cards would jump from $5 to $98, a spike of over 1,800 percent. All for a permitting scheme that few states outside of New Jersey require.
"This amounts to a poll tax on gun ownership and a fundamental constitutional right," said the ANJRPC in a statement. "The Governor, a Wall Street multi-millionaire who enjoys around-the-clock protection and a taxpayer-paid security detail, has clearly made his position known: elitists with money have more rights than average citizens."
More:
https://www.guns.com/news/nj-plans-to-sock-gun-owners-in-the-wallet