This is peak Colorado Democrat governance: when people are already getting financially spawn-camped by high costs of living, the solution is apparently to hit them with another fee — this time on video games.

HB26-1418 creates a brand-new 5% tax on in-game purchases and microtransactions, funneled through shiny new government “enterprises” to pay for youth mental health programs. Because nothing says “we care about kids” like taxing the very hobby many young people use to unwind after dealing with the mess this state has become.

Instead of asking why mental health struggles are rising among young people in the first place (broken families, social media addiction, failing schools, cultural rot), or actually cutting wasteful spending, they just create another revenue grab. Gamers who already work hard and pay taxes now get to pay extra every time they buy a skin, battle pass, or in-game item.

This is the same pattern we’ve seen over and over: expand government, invent new fees and enterprises, then act surprised when people — especially younger voters — feel like the system is rigged against them. Colorado doesn’t need more “youth mental health enterprises.” It needs leaders who will stop treating every hobby, purchase, and paycheck as a potential funding source for bigger government.

Your video game isn’t the problem. The people who keep adding new taxes while everything else gets more expensive? That’s the real debuff.