CEA Knocks Bill Proposing 1% Excise Tax on TVs, Games
The CEA criticized a N. Mex. bill sponsored by Rep. Gail Chasey (D-Albuquerque) to charge a 1% excise tax onto TVs, videogames and videogame gear sold in N.M. A state treasury- run “healthy kids outdoor fund” would get 95% of revenue collected by the tax. “While this bill tackles a laudable goal of providing more outdoor programs for kids, it seeks to do so through misguided punitive taxation on a few targeted products,” a CEA spokeswoman said Tues.
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“It may take a while to get it passed,” Chasey said, telling Consumer Electronics Daily: “It’s a new idea that merits some discussion” and “people are intrigued by the idea.”
The tax wouldn’t apply to computers, cellphones or other handheld devices, according to HB-1232. The excise tax would be “in addition to the gross underscored material receipts tax and any other applicable state or federal tax,” it said, and “money in the fund and income produced by the fund are appropriated to the energy, minerals and natural resources department for its state parks division, in conjunction with the public education department.” The goal is encourage kids to play outdoors by creating programs on public lands, funding development of outdoor curricula, transporting students to programs and starting more “outdoor nature- oriented physical activity programs for school-age children,” the bill said.
The other 5% of tax receipts would pay for administering the act. Chasey estimates the tax would raise $4 million -- $3.8 million for the healthy kids outdoor fund and $200,000 for the Taxation & Revenue Dept., the Legislative Finance Committee said in a fiscal impact report.
The Entertainment Software Assn. (ESA) and Entertainment Merchants Assn. (EMA) didn’t immediately comment on the N.M. bill. But they slammed a 5-2 Ind. Senate Technology Committee vote for that state’s SB-238, which would outlaw rental or sale of Mature-rated videogames to under 17s or Adults Only games to under 18s. Retailers convicted of violations would face fines of up to $1,000.
“We understand and appreciate the concerns voiced in the Indiana Senate,” said ESA Senior Vp-Gen. Counsel Gail Markels, but “we continue to strongly oppose this legislation.” There are already “reliable and informative tools -- from the store to the home -- enabling parents to take charge of the videogames their kids play,” she said, and “the combination of Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) game ratings, parental education programs, voluntary retail enforcement of ESRB ratings, and the new parental controls in all console systems makes this bill unnecessary and gives parents all the tools they need to make the best decisions for their families.” In all such instances in recent years courts have enjoined or struck down similar laws, finding no compelling research to support them, Markels said: “Bills like this are simply not the answer and ultimately achieve nothing but to waste government time and taxpayer dollars in the form of major legal fees paid by the state.”
When EMA Public Affairs Vp Sean Bersell testified Mon. on behalf of EMA members at a hearing, he said: “I explained to the Committee that EMA does not want to see any minor obtain a videogame their parents do not want them to have, but that EMA could not support Senate Bill 238 because it is unconstitutional and because it is unnecessary in light of the voluntary videogame ratings education and enforcement policies of retailers.” Such bills are “based on misunderstandings about how retailers are currently enforcing the ratings at the point of sale and the level of enforcement,” he said: “We are not satisfied as an industry with the overall level of enforcement,” so EMA is “continuing our efforts to increase retail enforcement through programs such as the ESRB Retail Council’s ‘Commitment to Parents.'”