If It Moves, Tax It
In most all virtual worlds it is possible to own virtual property. That can come in the form of virtual land, clothing, furniture a house even a virtual-based business. Some people end up with a lot of virtual property that in real-world dollars adds up to a fair sum.
So what happens when someone dies in the real world, leaving behind all of this virtual property? Considering that people actually make a living selling items in these virtual worlds, this is becoming a serious issue.
Swedish-based Mindark is looking at this very issue. They are looking at arranging wills for people that play their game. To be clear: These are real wills – not virtual ones. That way property in their virtual world goes somewhere without legal wrangling over a virtual estate.
Yes, we have reached this point.
“There is land in the game of considerable value, which if the player would die, is uncertain who would claim [it],” says project manager Carl Uggla.
That is true. What is also true is that if there is something of considerable value, governments want to tax it.
Enter: The Swedish IRS.
They are looking to tax virtual items. Not just real money made from those virtual items, but the virtual items themselves BEFORE they are even turned into real world money.
I must admit, the Swedish tax code is certainly tech-savvy!
The Swedish IRS says that in doing this it “validates” the business. I guess this means businesses that are not taxed are not valid. I am sure all of those non-taxed businesses are quite sad to hear that.
I understand taxing actual dollars made from the virtual world businesses but taxing virtual dollars?
I guess it is true what the late US President Ronald Regan once said about government’s role in business, “If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.”
I can only hope the other governments of the world are not looking to Sweden for leadership on this. Otherwise I can only imagine the “fun” new tax forms as World of Warcraft players try and figure out if their Sword of Corruption is tax deductable because they earned it while playing the game at their day-job.
Note: This post was written by me and originally posted at the Rising Tide blog.
