IRS urged to tax virtual worlds, economies

[Tacet]

I simply can't see how any one government will be able to tax the income its citizens generate from playing such a game. In most cases the money is paid from a bank account to an ebucks account, then from the ebucks account to another bank account. As they don't know what money comes from SGW related trades, they'll either have to leave it or they'll have to tax all income on your ebucks account, which will be a sick joke. Or they'll have to rely on the honesty of ppl, which would be very naive.

[Fear Of The Duck]

1. IRS should nuked.
2. income tax is the most widespread crime against humanity.

[ramen07]

how about cutting pork and patronage? or excessive government spending? how about taxing the porn industry? they make tons of money

[buck]

how about taxing the porn industry?

Well now lets not get hasty....I enjoy my 3 titles for £4.99 deal...tax would increase my monthly payments!

[Demeisen]

yeh i saw about this. definitely bad. definitely stupid. some countries already tax virtual goods the cheeky monkeys:(

oh an lol buck knows his porn economics

[zeekomkommer]

the IRS can't tax me, i'm not american

[Demeisen]

not yet

the IRS be planning invasion. they are the military wing of the taxation system

[spoiler][/spoiler]

[Cole]

As much as taxes are needed usually...I think it's an abuse to tax virtual worlds.

[Arcturus]

The best part of this article is that they fail to acknowledge the cost of the people who will be needed to regulate the internet gaming industry will equal or more likely surpass the amount of revenue they would receive.

[Demeisen]

its been said that taxing the virtual world will in fact be easier than taxing the real world. easier means more likely, especially as virtual goods are becoming ever more important, valuable and common.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7746094.stm

In October [2008], China's tax authority announced that it would focus on a previously ignored sector of its economy: the trade in virtual goods and currency. Sweden and South Korea have also moved to clarify the tax rules for virtual money.

Because Linden dollars [from second life] are fully convertible at exchange facilities within Second Life and independent exchanges, trades that use Linden Dollars are taxable under US law, said Prof Seto

.

[Tacet]

Imagine - you buy 10mil UU for 7 tril naq, and you have to pay RL tax on it! That would just be sad.

[Noobert]

I said it once, I'll say it again.

No.

[Tekki]

If they wanna track if via paypal then paypal would have to admit that virtual goods have a value and last I checked (which could have been changed) paypal did not agree that virtual items had a monetry value.

[Maha Vishnu]

Taxing virtual worlds, crap, when will they come and get me for enslaving humans and making them work as slaves

[Seaborgium]

If they wanna track if via paypal then paypal would have to admit that virtual goods have a value and last I checked (which could have been changed) paypal did not agree that virtual items had a monetry value.

Which would help stop people who scam.