Law of the Game on Joystiq: MMOIRS

Filed under: Features

Each week Mark Methenitis contributes Law of the Game on Joystiq, a column on legal issues as they relate to video games:

First, I'd like to apologize to all of the aspiring beaurocrats out there. This is not an announcement post for World of Taxcraft -- I hope I haven't ruined your favorite time of the year: tax season. Yes, with April Fools' behind us there are no distractions left to cling to. We're headed into the big tax crunch and that dreaded day, April 15. So what do taxes have to do with gamers, other than the fact that we probably pay them and are either reveling in our refund or frantically finishing 1040s right now? Well, looming on the horizon is a concept that may strike fear into the hearts of Azeroth: taxing the virtual world.

The virtual taxation concept isn't a new one. I discussed it in 2005, Prof. Bryan Camp wrote about it at length in 2007, and Dan Miller and the Joint Economic Committee are working on a report on the topic right now. At this point, it seems to be more of a 'when' rather than an 'if' we will start seeing taxation applied to the virtual realm. The US government is bent on spending an almost impossible amount of money, and this is yet another way to earn some revenue. What is more curious is how exactly the idea of virtual taxation can be applied, given the methodology behind the US income tax system. Tax law can get rather complex, so this column will try to keep things as elementary as possible.

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Law of the Game on Joystiq: MMOIRS originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 02 Apr 2008 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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