Rolling Stone Features Nardolillo Proposal to Tax Violent Video Games for Mental Health Funding

GoLocalProv Political Team

Rolling Stone Features Nardolillo Proposal to Tax Violent Video Games for Mental Health Funding

Under Nardolillo's proposal, games like Call of Duty (pictured) that are rated "Mature" would be subject to an additional tax.
Representative Bobby Nardolillo’s proposed legislation to place a tax on video games rated “M” or higher was featured in an article on Rolling Stone on Wednesday. 

About the legislation, Rolling Stone writes, “This isn't the first game-related piece of legislation Nardolillo's introduced. Earlier this month, the representative introduced legislation in an effort to stop swatting, which recently left one Kansas man dead.”

Nardolillo’s bill proposal comes just a few weeks after 17 people were killed during a shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida. 

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About the Legislation

The legislation would put an additional 10% sales tax to video games sold in Rhode Island with a rating of “M” or higher. Revenue generated by this tax would then be placed in a special account for school districts to use to fund counseling, mental health programs, and other conflict resolution activities.

“Our goal is to make every school in Rhode Island a safe and calm place for students to learn. By offering children resources to manage their aggression today, we can ensure a more peaceful tomorrow,” said Rep. Nardolillo, who is running in the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate.

Rolling Stone points out that, “According to Researchers Patrick Markey and Chris Ferguson in a recent Glixel opinion piece, "Research done by the US Secret Service and our laboratories have both found that less than 20 percent of school shooters played violent video games with any amount of regularity. Not only is interest in violent video games rare among school shooters, these perpetrators express much less interest in this violent medium than most other individuals." 

Nardolillo adds, “There is evidence that children exposed to violent video games at a young age tend to act more aggressively than those who are not. This bill would give schools the additional resources needed to help students deal with that aggression in a positive way."


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