When Politicians Tax Violent Video Games

talien79 writes "Taxing video games has a storied history in state legislatures. The reality is that video games, violent or otherwise, simply make too much money to be stopped. But taxing them is a viable compromise, a 'sin tax' of sorts similar to that levied on cigarettes. This article reviews the time-honored tactic of politicians pandering to their base: taxing violent video games."

Re:Of course, why not..

[Anonymous Coward]

If you like to drink Coke or Pepsi while you game, and you live in NYC, then you could soon pay a soda tax [slate.com].

Re:but but but, it's for a good cause!!

[operagost]

You misspelled "Fannie Mae" as "AIG", there. The Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac failures all got bigger bonuses than the people at AIG who worked for $1 last year. Oh, BTW, Barney Frank is still collecting his paycheck.

Re:Tax my Toilet

[mu11ing1t0ver]

Uh, yeah. About that. "The federal cigarette tax rose on April 1 from 39 cents a pack to $1.01." http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/04/08/ap6272107.html [forbes.com] Anyway taxing smokers is smart, because smokers have health problems that taxpayers end up subsidizing through medicare/medicaid. Raising taxes on smokers results in fewer smokers, which results in a lower tax burden for nonsmokers. This is one where the "lower my taxes" crowd should be creaming their jeans, and instead they're whining about it.

Re:Tax my Toilet

[DM9290]

This is an example of the fallacy that consuming energy requires one to expel carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

For counterexample, check out the promising new 'photosynthesis' technology that the plant world has been working on.

the part where the plant "consumes" energy is not photosynthesis.

Re:but but but, it's for a good cause!!

[megamerican]

Most of the money give to AIG actually went to other banks that had contracts with AIG, even foreign banks such as UBS and Deutsche Bank. Most of the money went to banks located outside the United States.

German and French banks got $36 billion from AIG Bailout [businessweek.com]

Don't forget that all of these bailouts combined ($12.8 trillion) are nearing the United States entire GDP. [bloomberg.com]

Re:but but but, it's for a good cause!!

[phantomfive]

You might want to check out the tax plan set out by Ari Fleischer [wsj.com].

Basically he suggests get rid of all specialty taxes, and all specialty tax breaks. Make it simple.

Everyone pays a percentage of their income (they get the benefits of having a government, they ought to at least chip in a little bit), and those who make more can pay a higher percentage. Taxes would be significantly easier to calculate (currently tax preparation and processing, if all the labor that goes into it were actually counted, would be one of the largest industries in the United States. Simplifying it will leave people free to do things that are more productive), and it would be hard to cheat the system. No more diesel fuel in your paper processing plant.