There were many stupid video game laws forced down people's throats. Despite the many regurgitated laws, Oklahoma lawmaker William Fourkiller is pushing a new bill that taxes "violent video games," trying to convince everyone that fake violence in a game is more damaging to a child than the real violence that child may face at school or at home. Plus this proposed tax would affect much more than the FPS's and the GTA's.
The bill HR 2696 would add a 1% sales tax to the existing Oklahoma sales tax (4.5%)
for the sales of any video game with the T (Teen), M (Mature), and AO (Adults Only) ratings. Rep. Fourkiller wants the money from this tax to be used for fighting bullying and childhood obesity. Fourkiller believes (or wants people to believe) that violent video games are the cause of those problems despite the statistics stating otherwise.
This bill is a spit in the face for gamers. Not every T-rated game is a violent, brutal fighting or shooting game, and may very well be a dance or workout game, just with some mild lyrics. Also, if the ESRB changes their rating system (they did so before), the bill could instantly become obsolete, making it a waste of Oklahoma tax dollars. And good luck finding an AO-rated video game at major retail store.
If passed, the video game tax would take effect at the start of July, just in time to ruin the summer of gamers in Oklahoma. Hopefully that won't happen.
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You can keep track of Lancey Eustache's work at Facebook.com/RoyalLance, Twitter.com/RoyalLanceE, or his Google+ profile.
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