It's for your own good and the good of society. Okla. lawmaker proposes tax on violent video games OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - An Oklahoma lawmaker is proposing a tax on violent video games to fight childhood obesity and school bullying. Rep. William Fourkiller District 86, Democrat, of Stilwell says the lack of physical activity associated with playing the games and the violence they portray have been blamed for childhood obesity and bullying. He says the games contribute to the problems, but they can also be part of the solution because of the revenue they raise. In 2008, 298 million video games were sold in the U.S., totaling $11.7 billion in revenue. 6 of the 10 best-selling games included violence. 4 of them carried a "mature" rating recommended only for people17 and older. Fourkiller's legislation would levy a 1% tax on games rated "teen", "mature" or "adult only" by the Entertainment Software Rating Board. Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. http://www.newson6.com/story/16647624/okla-lawmaker-proposes-tax-on-violent-video-games
Rep Fourkiller's name sounds straight out of Unreal Tournament. Anyways he probably has a fat kid he was too lazy to be an actual parent to, so the kid turned to video games as comfort and is now an outcast. Now Fourkiller needs someone else to blame for being a ****ty parent. This belongs in debate.
Violent video games don't harm anybody, so, a tax seems kind of dumb. In fact, it's been shown they relieve stress and actually prevent violence. And violent video games have nothing to do with obesity (unlike, say, high fructose corn syrup), so, this entire idea is just ridiculously stupid.
I don't get how making people pay more tax becomes a solution. I mean aren't the parents usually the ones buying these video game systems to play the games on, that may come with childhood obesity, not sure about bullying being a part of the outcome though. Either way it's the parents job to keep kids off their ass and on the playgrounds to keep them healthy and active, not the video game companys or us video game playing tax payers. To piggyback what CCorn said.
why don't they tax stupid parents instead of rewarding them just for procreating? as a matter of fact, all parents should have to pay a tax for each child instead of receiving credit. that should deter idiots from having kids. you can't have a fat kid if you don't have a kid in the first place.
Why not tax parents who let their kids play these games all day instead of forcing them to go outside and excercise? Don't blame the product for rotten parenting. DD
Exactly its the parents. When I was a freshman in higschool I got fat from spending too much time on Halo 2. My dad finally took my xbox and sold it. I didn't really touch a video game system until my freshman year in college when I bought a wii. I lost a all my fat and played 3 years of Varsity tennis. Was it video games fault? Well yea, but my father identified the problem and fixed it. And I was able to keep the weight off until I got a new addiction, beer . Parents need to take responsibility, I'm so tired of stupid legislation like this being brought up. If I want to eat sugar, Mcdonalds, or anything else that might be perceived "dangerous" I am fully capable of doing it responsibly, I don't need to government in my kitchen, my bedroom (unless it's Palin), or any personal place.
I don't see a violent movie tax anywhere. Is that in the pipeline? Or are these people full of **** as usual? I'm going with the latter.
Ridiculous. "We can't ban this stuff, but we're in charge, we don't like certain things, and we love to make up ways to take people's money. Plus, the lemmings will think we are doing it for the kids. It's win win win." I think we should consider a tax on irritating, do-nothing politicians.
squeakers shouldnt be playing mature video games. Lets clean out those littles b****es from the community. (images of blake on workaholics)
Isn't that what they are proposing? The tax would be pushed onto the consumer - the parent that is buying these games. The parent that pushes kids outside wouldn't be buying the game and thus wouldn't pay the tax.
I think the precedent of using taxes to discourage behaviors the government thinks undesirable was already set a long time ago. I don't see the floodgates opening any time soon. I think the model of using taxes to modify behavior is a good one in general, but I don't think this is a particularly good application. In fact, it sounds like the rep is more interested in creating a new revenue stream for a particular project than he is in changing behavior with the tax itself. I do find it funny-strange that the conversation always turns to who is 'to blame' when these sorts of government actions are taken, as if the tax should be a mechanism of dispensing justice. Could it not be that the fat bully kids and their lazy parents are completely to blame but the government could still pull a little policy sleight-of-hand that makes it better? And if they can make it better, the benefits outweigh the costs, and they do not infringe on anyone's rights in doing so, why shouldn't they do it? (Though it doesn't really apply here, because this bill is kinda dumb.) Besides, it won't pass anyway. Why are bothering to talk about it?
How can he make a correlation between violent games and obesity/bullying?! Is there a study that backs this up? He's an expert on childhood obesity now? We all know it's about money.
Any tax that I don't have to pay is a good tax, because higher government funds means more benefits for me.
