"Violent video games," a governmental classification of speech and expression that the Supreme Court found a smidge troubling last June, would be taxed extra under a proposed law in Oklahoma, with the collected money going toward state programs fighting bullying and child obesity. Here we go again.
William Fourkiller, Democrat of Stillwell, Okla., proposed a one percent state tax on "every video game with a teen, mature, or adult only rating," reports KOCO-TV of Oklahoma City. "Violent video games contribute to some of our societal problems like obesity and bullying," he says, "but because they raise a lot of revenue, they can also provide part of the solution."
One percent times $60 is ... 60 cents. Even if every man, woman and child in Oklahoma bought a T-, M- or AO- (snicker) rated video game at full MSRP at retail Oklahoma, that's only $2.2 million. California just paid $1.3 million to the ESA in legal costs after losing its own battle to regulate video games, which are now considered protected artistic expression by the law of the land. So, Oklahoma's looking at that expense, plus the legal fees to whatever DOOP chicken it hires to defend the case. That's money that could go toward a needier cause, like, I don't know, a privatized prison.
But hey, Fourkiller's from the Democratic side of the aisle, showing that meatheaded proposals for video game regulation are still an ideologically agnostic concept. Hooray for post-partisanship.
Lawmaker Wants Tax On Violent Video Games [KOCO-TV, Oklahoma City]