A lot of people were surprised to find out that the state was offering a tax-free weekend after Thanksgiving — for guns. Even happy gun-store owners had not realized that the Legislature had chosen to single them out for a businessbooster.

Little wonder. The latest twist on the absurd tax-holiday craze didn't get debated in the State House. It just got passed. At a time when the economy was already starting to tank and state agencies were being told they'd have to make do on less money than the previous year, our legislators were so convinced that temporarily removing the sales tax from guns was a great idea that they didn't feel the need to debate it. ...

South Carolina has far too many exemptions, they often serve no clear state goal — and often are at odds with our state's values — and our Legislature is embarrassingly promiscuous about handing out more. This gun weekend is just the latest. The fact that it encourages people to purchase products that are frequently used to hurt or kill other people and that it was passed because most legislators were afraid of political retribution if they voted against it make it more troubling than most. But pretty much all the gimmicky special interest tax breaks are bad, and ought to be repealed.

The (Columbia) State