Connecticut Considers Violent Videogame Tax

[Treblaine]

"to educate families on the warning signs of videogame addiction and antisocial behavior."

That's propaganda.

This is so obviously in violation of the 1st Amendment. This has nothing to do with obscenity.

This should be the political dynamite, political suicide... political suicide bombing, to even privately suggest such a thing. I wonder how dumb they all have to be to so blatantly defy the Constitution's most cherished clauses to fund a government propaganda program.

No, education programmes should be for things like building fire evacuation procedures and agaisnt drunk driving, things that are actually ESTABLISHED RISKS!

And why after all this time are we acting as if the motivation for that massacre was anything other than his deranged psyche. Games didn't turn him insane. Maybe if there was a spare of extra drive by car horn honkings, there might be a case but that's the only link the most spurious UNREPEATED study has found: higher propensity to troll people with a horn. Not that they were the only group to do it, but barely statistically significant chance in how log they honked.

Honking.

 

[weirdee]

we should probably ban or tax pizza too, because chances are the guy liked it

 

[vid87]

I love that they mentioned the Family Guy game and right now I'm half-watching the Family Guy episode on censorship.

OT - This has GOT to be a 1st Amendment infringement somehow. Did they ever pull this crap with comics and movies?

 

[Eri]

This would be illegal. It cannot and will not pass.

 

[Vault Citizen]

So a medium will be unfairly taxed to pay for a program that is a ease of tax funds? I feel bad for her constituents

 

[shiajun]

It's just classic politian busy-work: appear to be doing something meaningful when the most sensible approach is to do nothing. They don't want to come off as lazy, now do they?

In any case, it doesn't matter how you tax it or put more warning stickers on the box. If dad caves in to kid and buys him the media that was not designed for that age range then all the legislation in the world won't mean a thing. This applies to anything that has an age rating. However, politicians will always shy away from exposing how their electorate is part of the problem. Never blame the individual, noooooo, it's always the business and industry, or the government.

 

[TheSYLOH]

It is very clear that we need to put a Tax on Air and Oxygen.
Every single mass shooter has consumed Oxygen at some point in their lives.
Oxygen has been shown to allow activity in the areas of the brain associated with aggression and anger.
HOW MANY HAVE TO DIE BEFORE WE REALIZE THIS!?!

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Idiots. Stupid fuckin' retards without an ounce of reason and critical thinking skills. How the fuck do you justify that stupidity? I want to kick them out of the country. They're not contributing to society in any positive way.

 

[DragonStorm247]

Unconstitutional, been said already.

And your "solution" is utterly useless. How about you focus on ACTUAL EDUCATION? You know, the system vital to our future that is currently under funded and poorly designed? Don't waste time and money warning people about problems that don't exist.

 

[Mcupobob]

This won't go anywhere, everytime a first amendment imposing law is being considering the opposing party will go apeshit and call foul.

 

[GonzoGamer]

I'm not against a tax on violent games but the money should go to something more useful, like to fight unicorn smuggling.

But lets face it, that money is just going to pay for more bleach for Debralee's teeth & hair.

 

[Winthrop]

This garbage is getting ridiculous.

We need to tax the people of Ohio to create programs to educate kids about the dangers of "news" stations causing violence in children.

Hey, that's Connecticut the state, not Connecticut, Ohio. Don't try and pin this shit on us!
But I agree; This lady is crazy. Someone needs to talk some sense into her. Although I think sense and her have never even been in the same room. I'm sure she has, however, been in the room with many, MANY gun manufacturer lobbyists and piles of money shaped like a throne.

I was just picking a random state, one I personally lived in.

on an unrelated note

O H

I O!

OT: There has been no research done into violence and videogames with conclusive results either way, so education on the subject would basically be saying "I dunno." I really don't think that takes money. None the less, I think that this is unconstitutional though I'm not sure. Might get over turned by the judiciary if it passes.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

How about a stupid politician tax? You know where politicians would be taxed for every stupid proposal they make.

 

[Xanadu84]

I am the first person to scream "Bullshit" when people accuse something of going against the First Amendment. It is most likely literally a 99 to 1 ratio of bullshit to real first amendment concerns. And this is just flagrantly unconstitutional. Taxes discourage or pull in income. This is CLEARLY aimed at discouraging because it SPECIFICALLY targets something with certain content, and not a similar product with different content. Tell you what lawmakers, black people are more apt to be involved in crime, so lets tax all products that portray black people!

(I cannot possibly iterate strongly enough how much I do not believe the above statement.)

The end result of this is most likely some politician scoring a few kneejerk moralizing PR points while having no expectation of this actually happening.

 

[CardinalPiggles]

How about they just fire every jackass that likes to waste tax payers money by proposing ludicrous bills. That'd save some money for the educational and mental health systems.

 

[Bob_F_It]

Not even looking at the "games cause violence" argument, this is a populist proposal, unless the girl doesn't quite understand when taxes are ineffective.
Heard of booze cruises? People could just grab games from another state and dodge this morality tax.

 

[aelreth]

DAMMIT REPUBLICANS!
What happened to being for SMALL government.
:/

Also:
Blonde hair, blue eyes, and fascist.

I kid...I kid.

How do republicans in a state in which they hold 31% of the state senate & 34% of the state house pass a video game tax?

& When did Glenn Beck begin advocating for taxing free speech?

Find me the Republican controlled state that is banning or taxing violent video games.

 

[Baresark]

Do these people realise that sales of these games already bring in tax money that could be used to benefit mental health initatives? Perhaps if some of that money was used on that instead of wasted stupid scapegoat policies then we might actually get somewhere.

This is just a new kind of sin tax. Love the sin, hate the sinner, that is how government works in regards to things like this.

 

[Baresark]

snip

How do republicans in a state in which they hold 31% of the state senate & 34% of the state house pass a video game tax?

& When did Glenn Beck begin advocating for taxing free speech?

Find me the Republican controlled state that is banning or taxing violent video games.

This probably won't pass, as it has not passed in other states. But Democrats will always be in favor of a new tax. I'm honestly surprised a Republican is leading the charge on this one.