When it comes to video game violence, the government and activist groups have taken various stances against the medium. We’ve seen countless instances where groups have shown a distaste over violent titles which eventually required titles to be rated to ensure that the appropriate guardian can take note of a video game title their child may end up playing. Despite this, there is still a movement to restrict video game titles that may feature violence which for the most part has been safely protected through the first amendment. Now a new bill is starting to get the attention online that may present a new tax on select video game titles.
The bill was proposed by Christopher B. Quinn a politician for the state of Pennsylvania. With this bill, a 10% sales tax will be included for violent video game titles. This bill was brought up back in September of this year and already there are a couple state representatives that are jumping on the bandwagon. For those interested in where the sales tax will end up going, supposedly the funds will be raised and used for school safety.
On one hand, this would provide a means to further protect the school systems from any potential attacks but that could start to play a role in causing developers to further restrict video game titles. There’s also the question of how this would work with used video game sales along with online marketplaces. Likewise, we imagine there will be plenty of push back from other mediums getting away without the need of an additional sales tax such as films and music.
At any rate, this is just a proposed bill titled 2705 and has yet to be voted on. We’re sure that if this bill picks up attention from other politicians then it could potentially spread to other states but that’s purely speculation.
[Source: PA House of Representatives; Gamerant]