So us adults have to pay for the fact that the parents arent governing what their children play? Thats nice...

Ok, color me confused ... where is the Senator linking video games with crime? All I see is someone who's trying to find an easy target to slap a tax on to fund a possibly dubious pet program of his. If he was looking for serious money to fund his program, why not tax cigarette sales or alcohol sales instead?

I can't possibly figure out why he wants to do this, other than what Dave said. I know that the tax on cigarettes in WI will go up $1 a box tomorrow. I don't care about that since I don't smoke. :)

So instead of working to repeal the law that treats minors (arguable at 17) as adults, he wants to get some more revenue by taxing PC and video games of any ratings? So little timmy playing Mario Party must pay for Derek's criminal offenses?

Oh, and instead of coming up with differential programs, he just says he is "open to any other way". Lazy law maker just trying to get noticed by pretending to be a champion of juvenile rights.

Lets not vote for this dude next time around.
here is a moron.
Extra Tax on games?
so you tax on grand theft auto, right?
what about babies software for little girl?
tax them too because they make you go do crime?
or that we have yet another system to tax depends on how bad the software is?
What about movies then..should we do the same...
Oh well, wait, lets tax "money" then,
since money is the cause of all crime....
if you have money in your pocket, it gets other people to rob you.... or if you are driving a fancy car...you should pay extra tax too ...because you are causing other people to wait to car-jack you.
And...we should tax extra on all parents that their children become criminals becuse they didn't teach them well...
Ah, with all these taxes , we can spend anothe 500 billions to invade IRAN.

Thats the biggest problem in this country take 90% of my pay because people cant control themselves or their kids because i dont have any better use for it. Why not just become germany and put a 16% sales tax on everything and watch our economy collapse.

Every time they open their mouthes they seem to contribute to ignorance.

Just think, if criminals start playing games like Flash Focus or Brain Age, They might get smarter and be harder to catch. I think we should put a tax on health food and exercise equipment. A fit criminal might be able to run away from the cops.

Ban books, they may give kids ideas. Lets get rid of art and music as well. Free expression leads to free thinking! Can we dumb down TV any more than it is?

Is it me or should these elected officials be securing our boarders,fighting evil doers and stuff.
I cant help but feel they all need a layoff or a pay cut to rember who they work for?
and they, respond to every silly thing in the news as if they have no job.....

How about we tax legislators who make bad policy. If we did that we could probably get rid of income tax for good and still have a surplus.

The Democrats won't be happy until they have all our money.

"why not tax cigarette sales or alcohol sales instead? "

Cause they have such huge taxes on those anyway, another tax wouldnt get press to print a report on why 1-4 more cents is being taxed for various purposes.

My guess is that video games, by providing a vicarious outlet for agression, probably reduces violent crime. I'm all for treating 17-year-olds as juveniles (I knew nothing at that age), but this seems like a poor way to fund it.

People that are 17 have the same capacityh for understanding that an 18 year old does. They should be treated as adults in the justice system. They are just enabling teens to act like idiots with out fear of long lasting consequences ie. their record being sealed in less than a year. This tax is just an enabling excuse to further baby our youth and keep them from thinking for themselves. If the people have personal responsiblity then they don't have to depend on the government to do everything for them and a lot of beurocrats and politions will loose their power. Thats just my take on this.

if you wanna tax something, increase taxing on cigarettes, i'm pretty sure that has higher effect on teen delinquents than games... (teen hooligans won't be able to stand in circle, smoke and plan future crimes)

P.S. when was the last time someone from wisconsin was taken seriously?

At first I was outraged that a tax on anything is a bad idea. But I would rather the Senator increase cigarette taxes by 5% because I am a non-smoker.

I do not know what this guy is thinking, but I am going to write a letter. I am embarrassed.

Why must video games be punished to help youths breaking the law?

If anything, it should be a general sales tax on everything.

Wisconsin has done a lot of work to make it cheap to develop video games in this state, and this flies in the face of that.

How can games be linked to juvenile crime? What I see, he's better off linking spray paint to juvenile crime than video games. At least with games, kids are at home playing. With spray paint, they're outside marking buildings and homes defacing property. From all I can tell, he just wants to tap in to game sales and isn't really interested in a solution.

Violent juveniles will just need to steal more money to buy them!

The guy is a former radio personality. He's an active, busy well-intentioned ignoramus. But...the people of Wisconsin voted for him. They deserve what they get.

I find all this "video games are the devil" arguing funny. Out of all the violent and national TV crimes this year 0 and I mean 0 have been linked to video games. Maybe we should put a tax on loser parents that don't watch or parent their children.

Taxes should never be used as a deturrant from buying a product! Taxes are things used to raise money for the general good of the public! If a senator or governor or anyone wants to curb violent video game use then they can simply pass legislation about the use/distribution of that product, dont tax it. Besides, a lot of games are bought online... so what good is that tax going to do them once they figure this one out? It will only drive business towards the more free states that have lower taxes.
And as Action Jackson said, 0/nada/none of the crimes commited have been directly related or inspired by video games. Video games have been used to help train an allready screwed up mind, but never the origional corruptor. And the list of truely violent games is pretty short in compares to video games in general. How many sales of some form or sudoku, bejuled, and other non-core video games are out there? Then there are kids games. Then there are strategy games. In reality it is merely one segment the FPS, that all these guys are after, but they go after the whole market. Who votes these simpletons in office??

There are more realistic influences to commit a crime than video games. First one right off the bat...THE NEWS. You can't turn on the news without seeing someone laying dead in the street and guns firing. Second...TV and MOVIES. There is more violence in these TV shows and Movies then ever before.

Granted video games are getting graphically better all the time making them more realistic, but when there are more realistic influences out there it's hard to look at video games first.

You want a better idea? Then tax the movie industry which already makes billions of dollars. If the movie has violent images and crime, tax the movie 1%. If the news wants to show that dead guy on the street in the middle east, tax that news show 1%.

I didn't vote for him. Not too surprising that he submitted this though considering he is from the most liberal city in the state. I am not saying that all liberals are bad, just that the Madison area is where most of the far left are.

Not all games are violent and lead to juvinile violance. They should restrict the tax to violent games; especially the really gory ones or ones that seemingly promote violence towards others.

I we ae going to tax games then make all across the board let start with Golf lots of senators and congressmen play golf . Then there are nfl ,nhl and baseball games . just make it even for all

Kind of makes sense. Tobacco use is declining through people quitting and/or dying. So tax something else that is lucrative yet is politically dangerous to defend. No senator or congressman is going to run to the defense of video games, it is easy pickings.

Tax nothing more! You people waste enough $ to deal with the problem. Why a permanent tax for a temporary problem? Why should any kid be denied anything to fund this thievery! Lower cigarette taxes get the government completely out of health care and save trillions You forget senator the Government was established the insure life liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It's not about kid or crime except the one this senator is trying to perpetrate. What happens to the taxes after the law
is repealed. Things have gotten to the point that I don't believe you could fine fifty people in government that have ever even read the constitution. Google RON PAUL send this guy to jail for attempted robbery!

i think taxing violent games might have some reason behind it, not in that violent games cause violent kids, but in that violent games are glorifying violent behavior. in that case, it would be the same as a tax on cigarettes and booze.

I feel like games like GTA go too far, but if they were going to tax Zelda, that just does not seem right.

about some 17 year olds not being tried as adults, dependent on the crime of course, but taxes video games is not the right way to raise funds

Well then you'd just be picking the games you hate. That's like charging an extra tax on horror movie tickets. There has been NO evidence to support the myth that violent games cause violent behavior. In fact, most juvenile crime is committed by children of low income families. Those families can't even afford the fancy game consoles and video games. Of course I'm excluding the ones using drug money to buy their games.

I worked as a juvenile detention officer so I assure you, I know exactly what income level most juvenile criminals are coming from.

he is just upset cause he cant beat halo