Incline Biden wants to tax violent video games

[Curious_Tongue]

http://au.ign.com/articles/2013/05/...legal-problem-with-taxing-violent-video-games

United States Vice President Joe Biden has suggested there would be "no legal reason" why taxing violent video games would be an issue.
The Vice President's declaration came in response to a suggestion made by Reverend Franklin Graham at a gun legislation strategy meeting held at the White House recently. Graham, who attended the meeting alongside 19 other religious representatives, put forth the idea that violent video games should be taxed. According to Politico.com, attendees at the meeting said that Biden responded favourably to the Reverend's idea, going so far as to say there would be “no restriction on the ability to do that, there’s no legal reason why they couldn't."
It was suggested by Graham that proceeds of the tax would go towards victims of gun violence and their families, according to the website's sources.
As Geek.com correctly notes, this sort of concern is nothing new. The Obama Administration has funded research into the effects of violent video games on young people following the Sandy Hook tragedy, and is in fact a common theme in the wake of any major national tragedy. At this point there's no indication that Graham's suggestion will come to fruition, with Vice President Biden eventually concluding that a study should be made on the effects violent video games have on developing brains.

What do you guys think?

 

[Metro]

Defining 'violent' would be pretty tricky.

 

[dibens]

Graham, who attended the meeting alongside 19 other religious representatives, put forth the idea that violent video games should be taxed

Separation of state and church lolololololololo

 

[kazgar]

Defining 'violent' would be pretty tricky.

I'm sure we can define anything if we try...

Poor tetris blocks, thrown in a mass pile, squashing and pressing down on each other, the ones at the bottom must be in pain of the weight of the blocks above, tortured by that never ending music, yet the pile keeps growing, the blocks keep coming, the weight getting higher, and then suddenly, in a flash, BOOM! They disappear, violently torn from the space-time continuum, sent to the next life.

Tax away Mr Biden!

 

[Konjad]

I hope they tax and ban every PC game but Secret of the Magic Crystals,

 

[LeJosh]

Defining 'violent' would be pretty tricky.

I'm sure we can define anything if we try...

Poor tetris blocks, thrown in a mass pile, squashing and pressing down on each other, the ones at the bottom must be in pain of the weight of the blocks above, tortured by that never ending music, yet the pile keeps growing, the blocks keep coming, the weight getting higher, and then suddenly, in a flash, BOOM! They disappear, violently torn from the space-time continuum, sent to the next life.

Tax away Mr Biden!

Didn't you know it was just Russian's symbolism for human trafficking?

 

[potatojohn]

I'm actually okay with this because

1. This would only affect AAA games

2. The amount of cinematic violence is reaching ridiculous levels. I'm really sick of cutting people's throats in games. If this makes developers tone it down or abstract it then great.

 

[Xeon]

1. This would only affect AAA games

How do you know only AAA games get taxed? I didn't read that in the quoted part unless if it was mentioned in the full article.

Wouldn't Wasteland be considered a violent game and end up getting taxed?

 

[Comrade Goby]

I'm actually okay with this because

1. This would only affect AAA games

2. The amount of cinematic violence is reaching ridiculous levels. I'm really sick of cutting people's throats in games. If this makes developers tone it down or abstract it then great.

It's not violent enough

Plus there needs to be more nudity as well

Hopefully kill that retarded taboo in Americans

 

[Average Manatee]

The best part about this is that the AAA games would probably just eat the tax because they are paranoid as fuck about going past the 59.99 barrier.

 

[Telengard]

I think what I have always thought of such things:



Mario and friends, jailed for numerous accounts of animal abuse and murder of sentient plant life, in addition to the skinning of an animal and wearing it as a suit.



The Sims, jailed for crimes too numerous to list, including but not limited to theft, fistfights, murder, and child neglect.



Pengo, jailed for numerous crimes against the sentient and tool-using Sno-Bees and their children, including crushing hundreds off them in ice.

 

[Spectacle]

The best part about this is that the AAA games would probably just eat the tax because they are paranoid as fuck about going past the 59.99 barrier.

The tax would actually be a great opportunity for them, since they'd have a justification to raise the price, to 64.99 or 69.99. Consumers hate arbitrary price increases, but they suck it up if it's blamed on the government. They also accept that all prices must end in 4.99 or 9.99.

 

[DakaSha]

Wish i had voted Romney now

 

[Average Manatee]

The best part about this is that the AAA games would probably just eat the tax because they are paranoid as fuck about going past the 59.99 barrier.

The tax would actually be a great opportunity for them, since they'd have a justification to raise the price, to 64.99 or 69.99. Consumers hate arbitrary price increases, but they suck it up if it's blamed on the government. They also accept that all prices must end in 4.99 or 9.99.

They had a justification in the transition to the current console generation, and another in the transition to the next one. So far it looks like no one is willing to risk biting.

 

[Spectacle]

The best part about this is that the AAA games would probably just eat the tax because they are paranoid as fuck about going past the 59.99 barrier.

The tax would actually be a great opportunity for them, since they'd have a justification to raise the price, to 64.99 or 69.99. Consumers hate arbitrary price increases, but they suck it up if it's blamed on the government. They also accept that all prices must end in 4.99 or 9.99.

They had a justification in the transition to the current console generation, and another in the transition to the next one. So far it looks like no one is willing to risk biting.

Don't you remember how the price for a new console game increased from 49 to 59 at the start of this generation?

 

[Baron]

America. We won't legislate on restricting real world guns, but by God we'll put a stranglehold on those deadly computer game versions of them!

 

[Average Manatee]

The best part about this is that the AAA games would probably just eat the tax because they are paranoid as fuck about going past the 59.99 barrier.

The tax would actually be a great opportunity for them, since they'd have a justification to raise the price, to 64.99 or 69.99. Consumers hate arbitrary price increases, but they suck it up if it's blamed on the government. They also accept that all prices must end in 4.99 or 9.99.

They had a justification in the transition to the current console generation, and another in the transition to the next one. So far it looks like no one is willing to risk biting.

Don't you remember how the price for a new console game increased from 49 to 59 at the start of this generation?

AAA games were 59.99 back in the PS2 era for me. Dunno about PS1. Only change since then seems that the level of "AAA" has stretched downward quite a bit.

 

[Cosmo]

America. We won't legislate on restricting real world guns, but by God we'll put a stranglehold on those deadly computer game versions of them!

Real political action would require to ruffle powerful people's feathers and to actively prepare to act against them. It's way easier to deal with symbolic issues and morals, especially in a country that traditionally mistrusts politics as a principle : the risks are not real, with luck heated debates and the media circus will give the illusion of the contrary, and you know you'll be lauded in the end no matter what.

 

[Krraloth]

Separation of state and church lolololololololo

You got nothing on us bro.

 

[sser]

There's a megalomaniac hidden deep inside every grognard.

 

[cvv]

Hmm, this can actually gain traction. While it's hard for those thugs to meddle in speech, guns and so on due to the Ammendments, the courts have never challenged their authority to tax. And if the situation is dire enough that pot is being legalized just to extract some additional moollah from citizens, I bet this will elicit a serious consideration in the halls of power.

Then again Biden could've just been passing gas as usual.

 

[Indranys]

USA: nation of death and tax.
Said the hobo Australian guy that I met several years ago.
That Cleve's countryman is a charming guy I must say.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Nice, another excuse for parents to not be parents and pay attention to what little Billy is playing with.

This would only affect AAA games

You wish. Old men writing a definition of "violent videogame" means the law would get some very vague wording (probably something like "realistic depictions of humans dying or being hurt"), which in turn means it would affect whatever they damn well want it to affect.

The amount of cinematic violence is reaching ridiculous levels. I'm really sick of cutting people's throats in games. If this makes developers tone it down or abstract it then great.

 

[Jashiin]

Kwans, burn half the world if it suits their power games, daily shootings and biggest gun lobby on earth. Vote bodybuilder action heroes as leaders. Uses movies and games for dudebro propaganda. Then Tax "violent" entertainment for giving bad example.

Politicians.

 

[felipepepe]

I read that as "We just saw that video games are making almost the same as Hollywood, and decided we wanted a piece of the Pie."

 

[Jvegi]

How is "Biden says there’s no legal reason video games couldn't be taxed" the same as "Biden wants to tax video games"? How is it a declaration? I'm lazy, so maybe there are other quotes out there, but this just seems like some people can into jumping to conclusions and can't into reading comprehension.