More Local

• ABQTrib.com to remain available
• Former Marine to serve two years in jail for killing Albuquerque robber
• Wilson-Pearce battle for U.S. Senate exemplifies party's disparity

MOST RECENT TRIB STORIES

• ABQTrib.com to remain available
  08:48 a.m., February 25, 2008
• Congressman is indicted
  08:37 a.m., February 23, 2008
• Series of attacks target Green Zone
  08:36 a.m., February 23, 2008
• Iran is defying U.N., agency says
  08:35 a.m., February 23, 2008
• Waterboarding approval probed
  08:34 a.m., February 23, 2008

TRIB IN THE BLOGOSPHERE*

• Albuquerque Old Town
• Ty Murray Invitational thrills fans in Albuquerque
• Is Rome Burning?
• Ominous Skies
• The Road to Invalidation

*Note: The Tribune does not create and is not responsible for the blogosphere's headlines and stories. These links to blogs talking about ABQTrib.com are automatically generated. Use them at your own risk.

STORY TOOLS

• E-mail story
• Comments
• iPod friendly
• Printer friendly

SHARE THIS STORY [?]

Dave Gilligan remembers being prodded to go outside as a child, but playing baseball and other sports just wasn't for him.

Now the 24-year-old Albuquerque businessman is worried that an effort to get kids off the couch and into nature by using a proposed tax on TVs and video games sold in New Mexico could backfire.

"There's nothing wrong with sitting at home playing games. Everybody's doing it now," said Gilligan, co-owner of Gamers Anonymous, an Albuquerque video game store. "If you take a kid that's just playing his Xbox or whatever and you take him outside and you make him play baseball, he's going to hate it."

But a coalition 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 TV can't.

The coalition wants state lawmakers to create a No Child Left Inside Fund by establishing 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 — the first of its kind in the nation — 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 (and) 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."

Casaus said he believes people would be supportive if they knew a penny of each dollar spent on TVs, games and gaming equipment would go toward improving the education and health of New Mexico children.

Not everyone sees it that way.

Blogs dedicated to the gaming world have been abuzz over the proposal, with critics complaining that they shouldn't have to foot the bill for parents who can't or won't get their children outside. Some point to the principle of having to pay any additional tax, while others see the discussion as a chance to talk about gaming's benefits.

Gilligan, for example, said he learned to read at a young age thanks to video games, and said his interest in art was a direct result of gaming.

"I'm not a very athletic person," he said, thinking back to his days on the baseball field. "I kept playing video games and eventually my parents accepted that. And now it's my career and I make good money, so I'm happy."

Sean Bersell, vice president of public affairs for the Entertainment Merchants Association, which represents about 125 retailers in New Mexico, said supporters of the proposed tax have it all wrong if they want to fight complex problems such as low test scores and childhood obesity by turning off the TV.

"Targeting a small category of entertainment as somehow a major contributor to these problems is just not justified, and frankly it's not supported by a scientific consensus," he said.

And it's not just children who are playing, he said. More than two-thirds of American heads of households play computer and video games, the Entertainment Software Association says.

Bersell said the tax would put New Mexico retailers at a disadvantage as they compete with online outlets that offer downloadable games.

The gaming industry can bring in big money. Market research shows retail sales of game hardware and software neared $18 billion last year.

Beyond the money, Bersell said there are legal questions about the constitutionality of such a tax. Cases in other states have established that video games are expressive products protected by the First Amendment, he said.

"This is important because once you have something that's protected by the First Amendment, then the Supreme Court looks very carefully at attacks on that," he said.

Supporters argue that just as health programs are often supported by excise taxes on cigarettes or alcohol, an excise tax on video games and TVs would provide steady funding for outdoor education. Legislative analysts have said the tax would generate about $4 million a year.

New Mexico State Parks already offers outdoor programs, but the funding isn't recurring and it's just a fraction of what the tax would bring in.

Although the Parks Division isn't carrying the bill this session, Director Dave Simon said the little money his department has for outdoor education has already helped thousands of children experience nature at state parks around New Mexico.

TV and video games aren't evil, he said, but there's what he called a "displacement effect" in the United States as children get more screen time than outdoor play and learning time.

"The No Child Left Inside movement is growing nationally by leaps and bounds and right now New Mexico is a leader in this movement," Simon said. "I think our challenge is if we want to stay a national leader, we need to be innovative and creative and take bold steps, and this certainly would be a bold step."