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This week the race for Milwaukee County Executive is kicking off in earnest (There’s a debate tomorrow morning at the AMU), and I’ve decided to celebrate by featuring 1 bill sponsored by Lena Taylor each day this week.

So I’ll start with the Nintendo Tax, embodied in SB 401. You all remember when Governor Doyle wanted to impose a sales tax on Internet media downloads, which Republicans helpfully nicknamed the “iPod tax.” Well, Senator Taylor has her own proposal of a similar sort - a surcharge sales tax on the sale of video games, which I’m dubbing The Nintendo Tax.

According to the fiscal impact statement on SB-401, sales of video games and video gaming devices are subject to sales and use taxes. The bill imposes an additional fee of 1% of the gross receipts from sales of video games and video gaming devices (consoles). The Department of Revenue estimates that the bill would generate $3 million in revenue in 2007.

So to all you gaming geeks, ages 10 to 80, beware - Lena Taylor wants to take another $3 million from you.

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