Legal Niches

Brazilian Gamers: Taxes Are Killing Us

By pete_gallagher

Residents of Brazil are faced with excessive taxes on videogames, a situation that a new online petition is attempting to call attention to.

The Campaign for Fair Tax Video Games (translated) notes that Brazilian videogame purchases contribute only 0.5 percent to the global industry, while the smaller country of Mexico contributes 2.0 percent, a direct result of higher taxes on videogames. The site claims the taxes cause games and consoles to cost up to three times more in Brazil than they do in the U.S.

The petition states that the higher taxes contribute to piracy, hurt retailers, discourage investment in advanced technologies needed to establish game development in Brazil and also put a damper on gaming companies investing in the South American country.

read more

Full post as published by GamePolitics.com on April 07, 2010 (boomark / email).