New Mexico introduces outrageous video game tax to rob children

In what should be unquestioningly upsetting to gamers not only in New Mexico but everywhere, the dry U.S. state recently introduced a bill that would tax video game software and hardware 1% on every purchase. Why? To exploit gamers so that the state’s coffers are heavier.

The proposed bill, perhaps not so cleverly called “The Leave No Child Inside Act,” claims to motivate children to get outside and become physically active, according to CNET. The taxed funds would go to support state programs like outdoor recreation programs, transportation to outdoor rec facilities, curriculum in outdoor activities for teachers, and so on.

I’d like to point out a couple serious discrepancies with both the titling of the bill as well as its intention.

First, it appears obvious that the title “Leave No Child Inside Act,” is intended to draw parallels between the new program and the No Child Left Behind Act, one that is widely regarded to be a horrendous program for all but the lowest common denominator of children. What I mean by that is that the NCLB Act is designed to make sure every child is getting a successful eduction…many times at the expense of a quality education for those who aren’t struggling to pass the grade.

So, what the government of NM is suggesting, intentionally or not, is that the new bill aims to make sure every child gets outside and becomes healthy and active, correct? What about the children that are already highly athletic or recreationally involved, and only play games for thirty minutes to an hour before bedtime? You are going to penalize those children for playing video games along side the children that should be getting outside…just like the masses of children being adversely affected by the dumbed down teaching implemented with the NCLB Act.

The second point I’d like to make pertains to the processes suggested by the new bill. If this bill was to be completely effective, gamers were taxed to force them to get outside, be active and drop video games, how long and effective could the program be?

Let’s play it out as the state claims it should be: people play video games, get taxed, and that funds outdoor rec programs. Those people get tired of being unfairly taxed and go outside to these rec programs. Now no video games are being played and the programs previously funded by gamers are without resources, and people have no outdoor rec programs to participate in.

Maybe the people responsible for the bill didn’t logically think about how the bill has to play out. Maybe, just like most politics, the funding for the outdoor recreational programs will go to fill in deficiencies in other programs, and then it is just kids, who spend all of their meager allowances on their favorite video game series, being taxed before they’re even 18.

Perhaps the logic is that kids nowadays have somehow harnessed all the resources of their parents to spend oodles of dollars on video games, and that makes it OK to tax youth. I can tell you, I was never given much as a child, and worked very hard at random jobs to make enough to buy one video game. Should those kids be taxed, or is that just a casualty of the “Leave No Child Inside Act?”

The bill is really just a sad example of politics in action, now affecting the youth of America who really could be better not being unfairly taxed until they’re at least 18 anyway.

As a side note, I chose the image above because I think it makes a very simple point about how American government and “good intentions” translates to America’s youth.

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