Tax on games and TV. Thx, but no thanks!
February 14, 2008 6:02 pm
Acoalition of groups, led by the Rio Grande chapter of the Sierra Club, is sold on the idea that outdoor education programs can inspire children in a way that video games and television cannot. The coalition wants state lawmakers to create a No Child Left Inside Fund with a 1 percent tax on TVs, video games and video game equipment. The fund would help pay for outdoor education throughout the state.
Supporters of the tax — which would be the first of its kind in the nation (New Mexico) — say outdoor programs have been shown to improve students’ abilities in the classroom, boost their self-confidence and teach them stewardship and discipline. “We believe that an outdoor education program in New Mexico could be funded through a tax on the very activities that are divorcing kids from nature, promoting more sedentary lifestyles,” said Michael Casaus, Sierra Club’s New Mexico youth representative. “One of those culprits is TV and what we call screen time”.
Who votes against?! Really, I’m sure if this passes Belgium is the next to follow. Our politicians always love new tax ideas! *grmbls* ;)
13 Responses to “Tax on games and TV. Thx, but no thanks!”
Gawdamnit!
Seriously, I don’t buy any games cuz there’s so expensive already
I still buy games, but it’s getting fewer and fewer… But really… This is just silly… City kids often don’t get outside the city much if at all and get the most of the TV/Video Game gifts (they don’t buy them, the parents do). Also what about the fact most games (60% last time it was polled) are bought buy and for adults? We are going to tax adults for kids programs?
Not that this surprises me to much… Most ‘adults’ of he age to be in the levels of state and federal government are old enough to be my parents and I’m old enough to have a teen son or daughter if I’d so desired.
Blah, it’s all sorts of silly… Lawmakers are out of touch with reality and that is the real problem with the US government… Sadly there is no fix, people are brainwashed en mass and our voices of dissent are snuffed out with ‘but think of the children!’ and otehr political tripe.
Geeh. I don’t buy them because a.) if you subtract SL from the day there is not much time left for other ‘games’ and b.) the friends do buy them. =d
Mr Shadow, I think this proposition wasn’t well thought at all. You’re right about the adult humans buying the games, though. And I think this is a choice parents need to make. They could invest some more money in things like Scouts, out-door camps, sports, etc. But I don’t see why they need to tax games for that.
One of the points ‘against’ also is that games are responsible for a lot of advances as it comes to computer hardware, so it’s a huge pro too. Well, there are so many arguments ‘for’ games. (some against to, but less)
PS. I’m sorry to have to point this out for you, but just desire does not get you a son our daughter. You actually need to work for that too! ;) ;) ;)
Ack! Vint are you calling me ‘Mr’? XD
And trust me if I really wanted to have a kid (and I didn’t prefer women over men), I could have had one as far back as High School who would be a teen today as I’m 29… But uh… yeah I think I have the ovaries to thank for that possibility…
Sorry Miss Shadow. Got a bit confused here. L’ombre, hombre, male… that happens, you see. My sincere apologies! And those again if I touched on something sensitive here. I was just trying to make a - bad, I admit - joke.
Being intimiately familiar with the education system in america, the predominant thing that will help students is actually accepting that some people are stupid and the world needs janitors. Children should be taught from a young age that you must work to succeed, and we should have admissions exams for any further schooling past the 8th grade.
We need to stop allowing people to be lazy, and give them incentive to work, or make them get a job. The last 4 years of american mandatory schooling are in general pathetic, and geared towards slowing down everyone so even the slowest of students can qualify as ‘advanced.’
I am dyslexic, I have asperger’s syndrome, very poor health overall, and adhd, no matter how much I don’t like to admit it. I busted my ass in school, and it sickens me to see the lack of ambition and intelligence in my generation.
I am however very glad that there are so many who are content to underachieve; they make exceptionally good stepping stones. I simply wish that we would stop wasting the time of talented people because the people who are either slow, or don’t want to learn don’t seem to be held to the same expectation. Now everyone is a genius, not every child is ‘gifted.’ It’s time we woke up and started realizing this.
Addressing the article:
“We believe that an outdoor education program in New Mexico could be funded through a tax on the very activities that are divorcing kids from nature, promoting more sedentary lifestyles,”
Therein lies the problem. At the end of the day, this is simply more proposed taxation on a belief (in this case it means best guess at what might work), no proof at all other than skewed statistics.
There’s an old saying, ‘you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.’ Even if you put a child outside, it’s likely it will have a portable gaming device on hand.
*giggles* I found it pretty funny actually Vint as we’ve been in the same (admittedly laggy) places before, with those blogger parties ^_^
Did I hit on you?
(If the answer is ‘no’ than my reply is ’see, I knew you are a girl!’ ;))
Kailie, I think you’re right about the portable / hand held console’s. Imho even snake out-beats standing up to your knees in the water, trying to figure out how polluted it is. (Yes there are photographs of that, no, not scanned.)
Here I’m not following, though:
admissions exams for any further schooling past the 8th grade.
What exactly is eight grade again? (which age) And don’t you have yearly examinations which decide if you may go to the next year or so?
With us the system is more or less like this:
Three different ‘main directions’:
- ASO (algemeen secundair onderwijs, broad education, prepares you for college or university, you can choose your focus still: maths, languages, sciences, latin, … . But there is a basic ‘3h maths, 3h dutch, 3h french, 1h physics, 1h chemistry, … for all.)
- TSO (technical secundair onderwijs) More technically oriented, some stream through to technical directions in college and university too. Focus on electricity, maths, fysics with some practical classes in stead of theory. Also secretary, informatics, … are part of this direction.
- BSO (beroeps secondair onderwijs) Focusses on the trades: bakery, hotel, builder, wood construction, … .
If you pass your year, you can go to the next year (out of six, ages 12-18) but you can’t go from let’s say BSO to ASO (some exceptions, but then indeed you need to take admission tests). If you do not pass, they can either tell you to redo your year, or to drop (for instance from ASO to TSO). You are also obliged to do your last two years in the same (sub)directions. For instance, you can’t do bakery on age 17, pass and then do builder on age 18, passing and getting a builder’s diploma.
Does this make any sence? =d
Well as someone else with a good working knowledge of the US Education system (I work in a charter school RL), I’ll answer…
We have (usually a specific state or local board could try to implement it) no yearly tests to move on. That decision is usually based on work through all the different marking periods (typically 4 or 5 depending on district). The average of the marking periods is used to figure out if you go on (by figuring out if you’ve managed at least 70% of the total work or a ‘C’ level in the standard letter system most schools here use).
8th grade is middle school and the kids are 13-14 (I was 12 in 8th grade, but I’m an anomaly).
The US System goes like this:
Kindergarten (and sometimes now pre-kindergarten) to 4th or 6th grade is elementary school (depending on where the district seperates elementary from middle school)
Then 5th or 7th grade marks the entry to middle school which runs through 8th grade.
Then High School is 9th to 12th years.
Their are no admissions tests for public schools (though private can require an entry test if they so chose) at any level. We also only provide general education at the vast majority of public schools these days with at most high school level ‘general’ and ‘college prep’ divisions… That though is on it’s way out as they’ve decided everyone should be burdened with the costs of college ($50k in loans I still owe for my college degree, yeah >_> ), so they phase out the ‘general’ track. Some small number of schools offer ‘vocational’ training in HS in things like mechanics and hair styling (& maybe others, but those are the only two I’ve yet seen)… Those are rare and getting more so by the day as the federal government decides their is no need for them (& to help out specialized after High School training schools that teach those specialties as well as others for a high cost).
Kailie: “just remove all the warning signs and the problem will take care of itself” - the old IRC joke :-)
If only.
Dalien, does that come from the same guy that moved all the bibles to the fiction section in a Barns & Nobles? ,) (still LMPAO over that one)
Care to comment?