Video game retailers aren’t too happy with the proposed New Mexico tax law that will levy a 1% surcharge on the sale of video games and TV sets in the state. They have shared their displeasure with Sierra Club, the social organization that has purported the law. According to Sierra Club, the funds will be in turn used to “to fight obesity and poor school performance which may result from excessive… video game exposure.” But in a letter sent by the Entertainments Merchants Association (EMA), a representative body of game retailers, its vice president Sean Bersell countered the very logic behind the tax proposal.

New Mexico Democrat Gail Chasey is getting set to draw the ire of some of her consumer constituents, according to an Agence France-Presse (AFP) report. The lawmaker announced impending legislation last last week (January 25, 2007) that would levy a one percent tax on video games and televisions sold in the state. According to Chasey, the program will “Improve the academic performances of our kids” and help to fight child obesity.

Money from the fund, which is expected to garner four million dollars each year, will also be used to finance field trips to state parks and other outdoor areas. Chasey, a former educator, intends to use these outdoor classrooms to encourage healthy and active lifestyles for the students and bolster academic performance. The program is titled “No Child Left Inside,” a snarky homage to the current administration’s education policy.