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Oklahoma's tax on violent games killed
The Oklahoma bill that would have placed a 1 percent tax on "violent" video games was viciously murdered by the state's House Revenue and Tax Subcommittee on February 20. The bill, submitted by Representative Will Fourkiller, would have placed the tax on Teen, Mature and Adults Only-rated titles. Rep. Fourkiller tried to compromise with the "Oklahoma Task Force on Video Games' Relationship to Obesity and Aggression"... it also failed.Taxpayers in Oklahoma should probably burst out into song and thank their lucky stars. Similar legislation has been defeated in other states, with the ESA recouping costs on lawyers fees. California has paid out nearly $2 million for its unconstitutional attempts to pass laws on the matter.
Mass. Lt. Gov. wants game tax credits tied to job creation
Massachusetts is the fifth largest state for game industry employment in spite of better developer incentives in other states. Nearly 1,300 industry jobs exist in the Commonwealth, but a recent profile of Irrational Games by The Improper Bostonian covers how the state's grip on gaming could slip if it doesn't step up studio stimulus.A bill for game developer incentives has been floating around the Mass. legislature for about a year, but hasn't gained traction with lawmakers. The state currently provides heavy cuts for the movie industry, despite the game industry pumping more cash into local economies."It's ironic," Irrational Games' director of product development Tim Gerritsen said. "If you look at it, where do you want to put your money? We've got 120 permanent employees. They spend all their money here. They pay their rent here. They pay their taxes here. Do you want Dane Cook? He's here for two weeks doing a film, and he's gone.""When you talk about tax incentives, that's less revenue that you're receiving, so I think any kind of incentive would have to be linked to hard commitments from the private sector," said Lieutenant Governor Timothy Murray, who is coming off a win by keeping PAX East in Boston until 2023. The convention will also make donations totaling $325,000 over the next 11 years to MassDiGI.The state did lose a major studio last year when former Red Sox player Curt Schilling's 38 Studios moved to neighboring Rhode Island for a $75 million loan. The state isn't likely to lose established studios like Harmonix, Demiurge and Turbine. The problem comes founding or incubating new studios without concessions.
Oklahoma attempts violent-game tax, ESA responds
O-K oy vey -- some States just never learn. Oklahoma State Representative William Fourkiller has proposed a 1 percent tax on Teen, Mature and Adults Only-rated games.Fourkiller says, "Violent video games contribute to some of our societal problems like obesity and bullying, but because they raise a lot of revenue, they can also provide part of the solution." The proposed bill would have half of the money go to a bullying prevention fund and the other to get kids out of the house.You can imagine the Entertainment Software Association, which just last week got the State of California to agree to reimburse it $950,000 in legal fees (on top of another check back in 2008) for fighting Brown v. EMA up to the Supreme Court, has something to say on this subject."We are disappointed that even in the wake of an overwhelming decision in the United States Supreme Court finding proposals such as this to be patently unconstitutional, there are those who still try to attack video game with outdated notions of our industry," the ESA told Joystiq. "Taxing First Amendment protected material based on its content is misguided."California will have paid the ESA more than $1,327,000 to reimburse legal fees, while other states have also had to pay back the industry's lobbying and political arm for fighting similar bills. Turn back now, Oklahoma. Turn back now while you still can!
Five apps to help you track your finances
It's January, which means you're probably thinking about your finances for the upcoming year. Tax season is right around the corner. There might be employment changes coming or large purchases on your mind. Here are five apps to help you keep track of your money as it goes in and out of your wallet. iBank ($4.99) iBank is an all-purpose financial organizer for the iPhone that keeps track of your checking, savings, credit card and cash accounts. It lets you enter purchases on the fly and has some nice features like split transactions and multi-currency support. It can be used as a stand alone app or as a companion app that syncs to iBank for the Mac. iBank lets you sync multiple devices so you and other members of your household can always have up-to-date financial information on your handset. TaxCaster (Free) TaxCaster is a tax calculator for the iPhone and the iPad from Intuit. The app lets you add in W2 income, business income, withholdings, deductions, tax credits and more. It's one of the most feature-filled tax estimators I've used and does an accurate job of estimating your taxes. The app uses sliders so you can easily adjust the values and see how it affects the amount you owe (or will be refunded). Loan Calculator Pro ($0.99) If you have a house, car or a personal loan, then you should have an app like Loan Calculator Pro on your iPhone. The app lets you enter in the terms of a loan and produce an amortization table to see how long it will take you to pay it off, how much interest you'll pay and so on. It includes a "what if" scenario so you can see how your loan will change when you make extra payments. You can also track your loans and add in payments as you make them. Receipts Pro ($4.99) Receipts Pro is a valuable tool for anyone who needs to keep track of receipts. It's a flexible app with advanced features like custom receipt fields and repeating receipts. It'll let you take a picture, save a voice memo and add other attachments like an email to a receipt. Receipts Pro helps you keep track of your money by letting you assign a receipt to an account and a category, too. This information then can be used to generate reports and graphs which show you where your money is being spent. All reports can be saved as a PDF, Excel or CSV file and uploaded to Box, Dropbox and other cloud services. Wikinvest Portfolio HD (Free) Wikinvest is a stock portfolio manager that lets you import and track your accounts from Etrade, Schwab, Ameritrade, Fidleity, and other brokers. It updates nightly, so you always have the latest information on your investments. Wikinvest includes tools to chart your portfolio's performance, both on its own and in comparison with major indices. Pair this with the Bloomberg app for stock news and you have the right tools to maximize the return on your investments. Have any other finance favorites you'd like to tell us about? Leave us your comments below to let other TUAW readers know what is keeping your personal finances in the black.
Most of Apple's $82 billion cash stockpile is 'trapped' overseas
Apple may have enough cash on hand to make Scrooge McDuck's money vault look like a kiddie pool by comparison, but according to SeekingAlpha, most of that cash is effectively trapped overseas. US$54 billion of Apple's overall $82 billion in cash is in offshore accounts, and Apple cannot repatriate that money to the States unless it wants to pay a huge 35 percent corporate tax on it. If Apple attempted to bring that money into the States, right off the bat through the magic of taxes that $54 billion would transform into $35.1 billion, with the other $18.9 billion disappearing down the federal money hole. With that much cash at stake, it's no wonder that Apple hasn't been in any hurry to repatriate its huge foreign cash reserves. SeekingAlpha's analysis of Apple's 10Ks shows that Apple's foreign cash and investments are growing far faster than those in the US, and with sales in China continuing to ramp up year after year, that pace is only going to increase. Apple and other companies have lobbied for a repatriation tax holiday to temporarily lower the tax rate from 35 percent to something more palatable to corporations, in the neighborhood of 5 to 9 percent. That proposal has met with strong resistance from the current US administration, however, which has said that any corporate tax holiday must come as part of an overhaul of the entire corporate tax structure, something that's unlikely to happen in the near future. Meanwhile, as Apple's foreign cash hoard grows, the money is effectively useless to Apple and its shareholders. They could build a stack of dollar bills 3400 miles tall, but can't they can't do much else with it for now.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy wants to create music with a tax on ISPs
Nicolas Sarkozy is worried about the future of his country's music industry, and he's turning to French ISPs for help. Speaking alongside other G8 and G20 delegates at the Forum d'Avignon this weekend, Sarko affirmed his commitment to setting up a "national music center" within France, in the hopes of spurring artistic creativity amid a rather dour industrial climate. Modeled on France's National Cinema Center, the system was first proposed back in September by Minister of Culture Frédéric Mitterrand, and, if launched, would be funded by a tax on ISPs. According to Sarkozy, taxing service providers in the name of protecting French art is only fair game. "Globalization [has allowed] the giants of the Internet to make a lot of money on the French market," Sarkozy explained, echoing familiar Gallic attitudes toward online protectionism. "Good for them, but they do not pay a penny in tax to France." He went on to praise his country's Hadopi copyright law for reducing internet piracy by 35 percent, but stressed that the government must do more to protect what could be a dying French commodity: "The day when there is no more music, the day when there is no longer a cinema, the day when there are no writers, what will your generation search for on the internet?" Other things, probably.
Norwegian bookseller begins selling e-books on memory cards, for some reason (video)
Literary changes may be afoot in Norway, where one bookstore is looking to drastically revamp the e-book medium. Last week, Norwegian retailer Norli Libris announced that it would begin selling books on small plastic memory cards that can be inserted into the backs of e-readers. Each card, known as the Digi Short, would contain a single file, allowing users to devour one publication at a time on their customized, Android 2.1-laced Kibano Digi Readers. Doesn't that sort of defeat the purpose of an e-reader? It certainly seems like it, though Norli Libris' Caroline Heitmann says the idea is to simply convert e-books into physical commodities, like their ancestors. Because of this, these one-hitters would be exempt from VAT duties within Norway, though Norli Libris says they'll likely be priced on par with their downloadable counterparts, which won't help the consumer much. The company hopes that this system will be adopted as an industry standard, though it's only available at Norli Libris for the moment. Head past the break for a rather obvious demo video.
But you can't get the Romania out of Nokia
Local news outlets are reporting that Nokia is in trouble with the Romanian government over unpaid debts amounting to $10 million. The outstanding sum supposedly relates to customs bills racked up by trucks removing Nokia's equipment from its abandoned Cluj factory. A Nokia spokesperson just confirmed to us that the company is experiencing some kind of problem in that country, but is "engaging with the local authority to ensure it will be resolved satisfactorily."
Ireland planning to double its game industry jobs
Ireland is planning to double its game industry employment numbers by 2014, targeting 4,500 jobs from the current estimate of 2,000. The country, which has been dealing with a financial crisis, and acting as a corporate tax haven as the same time, is looking to back sustained growth in digital creative industries. Develop lays out the six initiatives the country has to grow in the sector. "As a pioneering sector within the wider digital economy, the games sector is dynamic, innovative and exciting," said Richard Bruton, the minister for jobs, enterprise and innovation. "What is apparent is that Ireland already has a number of strengths on which we can build success for the future and that will differentiate its offering internationally." Ireland is already off to a good start, with the recent opening of BioWare Ireland (pictured), a 200-employee customer service center expected to double in size.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: solar train tunnels, refillable battery goop, and the world's first 3D-printed bikini
Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us -- it's the Week in Green. This week green transportation left fossil fuels in the dust as Inhabitat reported that a record-breaking electric VW Bug rocketed from 0-60 in 1.6 seconds and Team Steam unveiled a space age vehicle that is vying for the title of "fastest steam car on earth." We also spotted the world's first natural gas-powered supercar, while a team of Cambridge students unveiled a sleek solar racer that will attempt to travel 1,800 miles in the World Solar Challenge. Oil fuels also lost more luster as GM's CEO called for a $1 gas tax increase in the US, while MIT unveiled a new type of liquid flow battery that could refuel electric vehicles in a snap. As the summer sun hits its stride groundbreaking solar power projects are lighting up left and right - this week Google unveiled a new solar patent that could make solar energy cheaper than coal, while QSolar rolled out an array of rainbow-hued Kristal panels that can replace windows and walls. Photovoltaic gadgets also had their moment in the sun as Pixel Qi pulled back the curtain on a cheap, efficient solar-powered tablet and a wave and sun-powered seafaring robot received $22 million in funding. Speaking of solar power, this week we applauded the opening of a two-mile-long photovoltaic train tunnel that will provide power to the Paris-Amsterdam high-speed rail line. We were also wowed by Steve Jobs' vision for Apple's new spaceship-shaped clean energy campus, and our Bright Ideas Lighting Design Competition is really heating up, so be sure to vote for your favorite green lamp before the contest ends next week. Finally, we shared 6 great green Father's Day gifts for tech-savvy dads, and as summer gets set to begin we brought you exclusive photos of the recently opened section 2 of New York's High Line park, a beautiful suspended swimmer's oasis in Denmark, and the world's first 3D-printed bikini.
US Uncut group to target Apple with protests on June 4
If you see a group of people dancing in front of your local Apple store next weekend, don't be alarmed. Steve Jobs didn't make a surprise visit to the store and, no, Apple isn't launching another product. They are just protesters from the US Uncut group. The grassroots movement is upset with corporate tax loopholes and has deciced to target the Cupertino company on June 4. They accuse Apple and other corporations like Pfizer of hiding US income as foreign income to avoid paying taxes. The group is calling on its members to protest with a flash mob-style dance-in outside Apple retail stores around the US. Read on for a video to find out why this group is so upset with Steve Jobs and company.
Canadian copyright group pushes for levy on memory cards
As even non-Canadians may recall, there was a big issue in the country a few years back over a so-called "iPod tax" (something that cropped up again in the recent election) and, while it still hasn't come to pass, the Canadian Private Copying Collective is now pushing for a music tax of another sort. While there's no iPods in danger of being taxed this time, the CPCC is asking for a new levy to be placed on memory cards (presumably all types, although that hasn't been specified). That levy would vary depending on the capacity of the card, with those less than 1GB facing a $0.50 tax, while cards between 1GB and 8GB would have an additional dollar tacked on, and those over 8GB would cost a full $3 more. Needless to say, that would be a fairly sizable percentage of the price in most cases given the way memory card prices are dropping -- and it would cast a fairly broad brush, as those memory cards obviously aren't just used for music. Of course, it is also still just a proposal but, as the Excess Copyright blog notes, the peculiarities of the Canadian Copyright Board may well give the CPCC a leg up in this case. Head on past the break for its official announcement.
UK government may close online shopping tax loophole
The gaming significance of the above headline may not seem apparent, but bear with us. This May, the UK government will consider "the continued marketing and use of highly aggressive and artificial tax avoidance schemes." As noted by VG247, businesses located in a certain part of Jersey (the UK one, not the one famous for GTL) are not required to include value added tax (VAT) in their prices. As such, many game sellers -- GAME, Amazon, Play, etc. -- base their businesses there, allowing them to sell games at lower prices than competitors (though only on items under £18). MCV reports that the consultation planned for May will likely see current countermeasures extended. Said countermeasures allow the government to "enable the listing of specific tax avoidance schemes for direct taxes so that the subsequent use of such schemes will carry consequences for the user." Within four years, the measures could earn the UK government as much as £4 billion. Of course, they would also have the added side effect of raising prices on certain games.
North Carolina to provide tax breaks for game companies
North Carolina is going to provide some epic tax breaks to video game developers. According to the ESA, a bill signed by Governor Beverly Perdue will provide a 15 percent tax credit on "wages and compensation for employees involved in digital media production, or the creation of a platform or engine to run such media." Of course, the big winner here is North Carolina-based Epic Games, which swims in a lake of Unreal Engine money and develops games in its spare time. However, other benefactors of the tax breaks include Electronic Arts, Ubisoft and another dozen or so developers in the state. The incentives take effect January 1, 2011. Publishers, developers and governments use tax breaks like Ezio wields the hidden blade. It's a weapon, either for financial defense (which seems to be the case in North Carolina) or aggression. With Canada's relentless siren call of tax incentives, if other countries and states don't step up their game, The Great White North will continue its Tim Hortons-fueled march to eventually developing most of the world's video games.
TIGA and ELSPA form Steering Committee for UK tax relief
Looks like the UK's video game industry organizations aren't going to take the recent removal of their hard-fought game development tax relief plan from the nation's Emergency Budget lying down. Earlier today, TIGA and the ELSPA announced their partnership on a "Steering Committee" to investigate why the tax plan was put on ice. The duo plans to review the original submission to make a more compelling argument for gaming industry tax breaks. Hopefully the group will find an effective solution for getting its plan approved. You know, a solution better than "let's throw our full support behind candidates in the upcoming election who promise to endorse our tax plan, only to have them forget about us mere moments after taking office." The press release is posted after the break. [Image credit: Bashed]
UK game retailers facing pricing challenge due to VAT increase
Last week, the UK Emergency Budget resulted in a proposed increase in the country's VAT (similar to a sales tax). When it goes into effect in January, the tax will increase by 2.5 percentage points. Game retailers are mulling over the possibility of absorbing the added the cost, instead of passing it to the consumer. According to MCV's report, "senior retail figures" are reluctant to increase the price of games above the now-standard £39.99 ceiling. Afraid that the increased VAT will lower sales, retailers must consider lowering their profit margins, by paying for the increased tax. Should that prove to be unsavory though, UK gamers can expect their games -- as the price of many other retail goods -- to increase in the new year.
The Virtual Whirl: Death and taxes
"Nothing is certain but death and taxes"; a rather sardonic and bleak proverb, quoted and paraphrased by a number of famous figures over the years. The earliest on record was Daniel Defoe, in The Political History of the Devil in 1726. Well, this week the death part doesn't concern us so much as the taxes. Many Americans have spent this month scrambling to get their taxes filed, and for many of the rest of us our own turn comes due in just a couple of months. With that in mind, I thought I'd talk about the taxation status of virtual assets.
Officers' Quarters: Tax time
Every Monday, Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership. He is the author of The Guild Leader's Handbook, available this spring from No Starch Press. In the United States, federal and state taxes are due in just a few days -- April 15 is the deadline. If you haven't figured out your taxes by now, you're probably in a bit of a panic. Though we often resent paying, taxes are the price of living in an organized society. They pay for defense, schools, roads, social programs and a host of other benefits. Some we can all agree on; some are a matter of fierce debate. In a guild, taxes are often a controversial issue. Some guilds who use point-based systems like DKP will tax members' point totals to prevent point hoarding. This week, one reader is wondering about a different kind of tax. Hi Scott, I am a member of a casual raiding guild. Recently some of the officers have been kicking around the idea of a "raid tax" -- a set value of mats used in a week's worth of 25-man raiding that can be paid by members either in gold or through supplying the mats themselves. It's funny because the "tax" for a given week sounds exorbitant to me (close to 1,000 gold when they figure in the price of enchanting mats and gems for loot).
Is Canada's iPod tax back? And if so, will BJ Snowden get her cut?
We know, BJ Snowden is an American artist -- but since her song "In Canada" is probably on every iPod and computer up north, we have to wonder whether a proposed amendment to the Canadian Copyright act will help her finally get what's coming to her. The brainchild of the New Democratic Party's Charlie Angus, the bill would extend 1997's Private Copying Levy "to the next generation of devices that consumers are using for copying sound recordings for personal use." Proponents of the plan says that it ensures that artists get paid for their work -- essentially, the government wants you to pay upfront for the music you're likely to steal anyways by taxing your next digital audio player purchase. Of course, much about the plan doesn't make sense (it doesn't address digital video, for instance, or the computers that people use to download and store their music in the first place) but we guess we'll let the Canadian government hash that one out. This is obviously not a new idea, and it is one the courts have rejected already, but who knows? Maybe this time it will "take." Lets hope not, eh? Update: No surprise, but the levy is already being shouted down by Industry Minister Tony Clement calling it "totally nonsensical" and "180 degrees in the wrong direction" with regard to the government's strategy to embrace the internet, not stifle it.
TIGA delivers petition for tax relief to UK government
[Image credit: Bashed] UK video game industry trade association TIGA delivered a petition today to 10 Downing Street (that's where Her Majesty ... oh, it's just the British Prime Minister's residence), seeking the introduction of Games Tax Relief. The petition was signed by 55 "senior industry figures," which gives the proposition a bit more weight than the standard internet plea. The argument set forth by Richard Wilson, CEO of TIGA, is that "if it is right to provide tax relief for the UK film industry then it is also right to provide tax relief for the UK video games sector." TIGA's push on the UK government is being framed as a matter of survival for the British games industry. The organization previously stated that 1,700 jobs will be lost without tax breaks and that the current government funding structure for the games industry is "incoherent." If TIGA doesn't receive assistance soon, the group can always accept the outstretched hand of assistance from the ominous-sounding "Shadow Cabinet."
