Texas Politician Will Propose Video Game Tax
If you've been saving up to buy a copy of SIN Episodes: Emergence
or The Da Vinci Code
, it might be a good idea to stash away a few more bucks than you originally planned.
As reported in today's Brownsville Herald, a Texas state senator plans to introduce a 5% tax on video game sales at an upcoming Senate Finance Committee meeting.
State Sen. Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa, a Democrat from McAllen, said his game tax plan would raise $65 million every two years. The money would be allocated to build new schools or repair older ones in financially-strapped school districts.
"You have all these kids buying video games," Hinojosa said, "Sometimes they are good, some are bad and that's not my call. But I think that we can generate (money) to put toward the schools they go to."
Coincidentally, the last video game tax story covered by GP also came out of Texas. Readers may recall the failed gubernatorial ambitions of wacky millionaire Star Locke, who vowed to impose a 50% tax on violent games.
GP: Hinojosa's approach is unique, if nothing else. Unlike most game-legislating politicians, who are up in arms about content issues, Hinojosa seems to be saying, "Forget the content. Let's just squeeze some money out of these kids."