Violent Video Games Sales Tax | 18+ to buy Mature Games

Government representatives are targetting video games hard. This week 2 new bills were introduced. One would place a Sales Tax on all Violent Video Games. And another bill would make the ESRB ratings legally binding and prevent the sale of some games to minors. In this commentary, I offer a look at politics and the video game industry. In the background, i’m playing Need for Speed on PC.

A Representative of Missouri, Republican Diane Franklin of Camdenton, is calling for a sales tax on violent video games following the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut. “Violent,” in this instance, really doesn’t mean what you think it does. From the proposed bill: “the term ‘violent video game’ means a video or computer game that has received a rating from the Entertainment Software Rating Board of Teen, Mature, or Adult Only”

That means that , if successfully passed, Teen-rated games like The Sims 3, Starcraft 2, EVE Online and Tropico 4 would all be taxed in Missouri on account of how unrepentantly violent they are. Seriously, if my eyes rolled any harder it would cause permanent damage.

If passed, the bill would impose a 1% sales tax to violent games

Sources:

New bill would make ESRB ratings legally binding

Missouri Representative proposes tax on “violent” video games

VGN – Video Games and News