New Media Technologies Blog - Entry #7 Unfair Taxing of Video Games and Electronic Entertainment

Tax TVs, video games, outdoor group says

This article made me rather upset when I first read it a few days ago. The "No Child Left Inside" fund? Are you kidding me? Seriously, when I first read this I was appalled that such a proposal exists. Yes, I can understand that there would be folks out there that would willingly participate in activist measure against video game culture and attempting to try and ween more children off of sitting indoors and playing video games. And there is nothing in the least wrong with that mentality as there is a growing rise of obesity and children who are inactive because all they do is stay inside. Looking back, I guess I could be considered as one of these types who would prefer to say inside, but it didn't quite go down like that because of one factor: My upbringing. a.k.a. How my parental guardians decided to raise me. This is the real issue that need so be addressed, not the extra taxation of video games which are already very expensive to purchase. These people feel that they know what is best to essentially steal money away from businesses trying to sell video games and electronic forms of entertainment and also hurt the customer who has worked hard to earn money to purchase a video game. Just because some children would rather stay inside and play video games, that's simply the culture and it's not the fault of the industry but rather the parents who don't make an effort to get their kids out of the house. And what of college students like myself who can't afford the luxury of time to try and get some outdoor time and seek relaxation through a pass time activity of playing a video game in the privacy of my own home. In other words, everyone get's quite screwed over by a proposal such as this, but especially the retailers who in tern have to raise their prices to make ends meet, which in tern make more customers decide to venture into online markets instead of local businesses simply on the basis that it is cheaper and not taxed unfairly.

And when all is said and done, let's say this fund actually gets the money they want, what then? What is their great plan for using this money? Are they simply going to rip out the old monkey bars and baseball fields and install new ones in their place? Also I don't see how taxing video games is going to actually make people WANT to play less then they do already and I surely don't see how this actually makes them WANT to go outside more. So if it doesn't guarantee results, it'd basically be yet another example of a waste of tax payer dollars.