The proposed “violent video game tax” of Oklahoma Representative Will Fourkiller is no more after hundreds of e-mails to Oklahoma’s Subcommittee on Revenue and Taxation.

Violent video game tax

With Fourkiller’s claim that video games cause violence and obesity, the proposed tax would have applied to any video game Rated T or higher on the ESRB Ratings chart.  This would have included game titles such as Zumba Fitness 2: Party Yourself Into Shape, a popular fitness title.

When asked to withdraw his tax proposal this past Monday, February 20, Rep. Fourkiller attempted to create the Oklahoma Task Force on Video Games Relationship to Obesity and Aggression.  His new proposal was also shot down.

“It was obvious that this bill singled out video games with unfair and unfounded claims, and something needed to be done,” a statement from the Video Game Voters Network said.

This column previously countered Rep. Fourkiller’s claims and was sent to his offices via e-mail and fax.  Requests for direct statements and a Skype interview to defend his claims that video games cause violence and obesity in children went unanswered.

You can read that original column here.

Patrick Scott Patterson has been a gamer since 1981, acting as a writer, technician and world record holder on several game titles. He has appeared numerous times in the yearly editions of Guinness World Records: Gamer’s Edition. In addition to writing here, Patterson has also written for Yahoo!, Twin Galaxies, VGEVO and Gameroom Magazine, and is always looking for unique and positive news to report from the video gaming world.

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