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The point of the tire analogy is that many aspects of life can elliptically involve a right under the COTUS. One has a right to marry, yet a fee can be charged for the license. Free speech covers a right to publish and sell, but the state can collect sales tax on books. I have a constitutionally protected right to travel, and I might argue that it is infringed by a 10,000% tire tax or a $100 per gallon gas tax, but ordinary revenue raising wouldn't infringe those rights.
In some cases, a court will examine whether the tax is punitive or whether it really pays the costs of administration and regulation. The problem with bringing those suits is that the state can always give you every last penny's worth of regulatory scrutiny you've paid for.
That isn't necessarily a better deal. I think we would all throw a party if all arms taxes, including but not limited to the NFA stamp, were prohibited. I don't see that happening.
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