Tim Burgess proposes tax on gun sales in Seattle: The Seattle Times reported today that City Council President, Tim Burgess, will propose legislation that would tax ammunition and gun sales and oblige gun owners to contact police about lost or stolen guns. “Gun violence is very expensive,” Burgess said, noting that the direct medical costs of treating 253 gunshot victims at Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center last year surpassed $17 million, with taxpayers covering more than $12 million of that. “It’s time for the gun industry to help defray those costs and this is a very reasonable way to do it.” Like tobacco, alcohol and marijuana, gun sales should also be taxed. If the product you are selling has clear costs associated with its use, then it makes utter sense to offset the burden on society via taxation. (And just for the record, taxation is not equivalent to slavery , as Paul Constant noted yesterday.) Where will the GOP land on immigration? In her interview yesterday with CNN, Hillary Clinton said that the Republican presidential candidates’ stances on immigration are on a “ spectrum of hostility .” While she’s not wrong, there is a rather sizable gap between, say, Donald Trump’s perspectives on immigration and Jeb Bush’s, for example. John Dickerson at Slate wondered “where on this new immigration spectrum the GOP’s reputation falls.” If polling is any indication, than it appears immigration will not be seen as an “act of love” by the Republican base. According to Pew Research Center , 63 percent of Republican voters today view immigrants as a “burden” who compete with Americans for job, health care etc… Compare that 63 percent number with 62 percent of Democratic voters who agreed with the statement that immigrants “strengthen our country because of their hard work and talents.” Moreover, 57 percent of independents also think immigrants strengthen our nation. In the Republican world view, immigration is very much a zero-sum affair, while the rest of America views the issue in a much more optimistic … Continue reading Daily Clips: July 8th, 2015
