General Discussion

Good for China, America should be more like China. Thier should be a tax on games because to me games should be in the same tax boat as alcohol and tobacco, you don't need them but If you do buy them you should be taxed. More taxes on things you don't need (games, alchohol, tobacco) means less taxes coming out of your pay check (hopefully). I'm tired of America's democracy, I want the government to make decisions for the citizens because the citizens aren't smart enough to make their own rational/logical decisions.

Originally posted by Terranah

This is horrible news and sets a dangerous precedent for gaming. And this will not hurt gold sellers.  They will just pass the additonal cost on to their customers, same as every industry. 

 

By establishing that virtual items and currency have real world value, they then have a basis for taxing you ingame every time you loot an item, trade an item, sell an item to vendor, auction an item, etc.  This is bad, very, very bad.

^^^ This is what all the "Furor" is about.  People aren't seeing the bigger picture.  They think this kind of thing will only effect gold sellers, but really this is just the start of a huge downward spiral.

I can see this leading to things like "You looted X epic item.  X epic item can be sold for 10$ real money.  We tax you for that 10$ item."

Sure hope other countries don't follow their lead, or this could spell the end of MMORPG gaming as we know it.

Originally posted by Cyborg99

Good for China, America should be more like China. Thier should be a tax on games because to me games should be in the same tax boat as alcohol and tobacco, you don't need them but If you do buy them you should be taxed. More taxes on things you don't need (games, alchohol, tobacco) means less taxes coming out of your pay check (hopefully). I'm tired of America's democracy, I want the government to make decisions for the citizens because the citizens aren't smart enough to make their own rational/logical decisions.

We DO get taxed for buying games, you silly.  So you want us to be taxed on our fake items in games as well?  That's just dumb.  I should tax you for using space up on the internet to type that dumb message you wrote.

Originally posted by merkels

 

We DO get taxed for buying games, you silly.  So you want us to be taxed on our fake items in games as well?  That's just dumb.  I should tax you for using space up on the internet to type that dumb message you wrote.

Actually this case is more like taxing services since the product is a "service" (there's no real item involved). Actually many game companies in the US is already starting to tax their games... NCSoft is one such company.

This is why you want to live in a democracy...... with conservative ,elected ,leadership.

Originally posted by merkels

Originally posted by Terranah

This is horrible news and sets a dangerous precedent for gaming. And this will not hurt gold sellers.  They will just pass the additonal cost on to their customers, same as every industry. 

 

By establishing that virtual items and currency have real world value, they then have a basis for taxing you ingame every time you loot an item, trade an item, sell an item to vendor, auction an item, etc.  This is bad, very, very bad.

^^^ This is what all the "Furor" is about.  People aren't seeing the bigger picture.  They think this kind of thing will only effect gold sellers, but really this is just the start of a huge downward spiral.

I can see this leading to things like "You looted X epic item.  X epic item can be sold for 10$ real money.  We tax you for that 10$ item."

Sure hope other countries don't follow their lead, or this could spell the end of MMORPG gaming as we know it.

Except you are not seeing the bigger picture. Something only has worth if you SELL IT. If I go to a swap meet thinking about selling something, but don't, I'm not charged tax on what I could've sold that item for. I'm not taxed if I decide to paint a wall in my house, which is a service that has value. Nor would I be taxed for having a character in an MMO that's worth $600.

Do you know why?

Because I didn't make any money! What a concept. I don't sell something, and thus I'm not taxed for it.

Originally posted by merkels

Originally posted by Terranah

This is horrible news and sets a dangerous precedent for gaming. And this will not hurt gold sellers.  They will just pass the additonal cost on to their customers, same as every industry. 

 

By establishing that virtual items and currency have real world value, they then have a basis for taxing you ingame every time you loot an item, trade an item, sell an item to vendor, auction an item, etc.  This is bad, very, very bad.

 

^^^ This is what all the "Furor" is about.  People aren't seeing the bigger picture.  They think this kind of thing will only effect gold sellers, but really this is just the start of a huge downward spiral.

 

I can see this leading to things like "You looted X epic item.  X epic item can be sold for 10$ real money.  We tax you for that 10$ item."

 

Sure hope other countries don't follow their lead, or this could spell the end of MMORPG gaming as we know it.

That's nonsense.  It would be an accounting nightmare.  If that were to be the case, why wouldn't the government tax me each time I mow my lawn?  After all, if I had hired someone to mow my lawn, I would have paid $25, and they would have paid taxes on it.

What about every time I have sex with my wife?  If I had sex with a prostitute, I would have had to pay for it, and that's taxable income.

I also read in the new PC Gamer Mag, that in China most of the gold farmers are indeed gang members.  They are able to obtian these job becuase they don't pay well.  Pc Gamer went as far as saying, "atleast something good is coming out of gold farming" meaning keeping the "thugs" off the streets of China. 

Yet again i am amazed at the outright stupidity shown.

How hard is it to realize theres a difference between taxing virtual items and taxing REAL cash PROFIT  gained thru the sale of virtual items....

In other words , for those of you among the thinking impaired , you can have trillions of virtual in game currency,or virtual items that people might pay large amounts of cash virtual or real cash  for, and be under NO tax obligation.

Its ONLY when REAL world cash comes into a persons possession as PROFIT, that said person becomes obligated to pay taxes on said REAL WORLD cash.AND since in the case of virtual item sellers, REAL world cash comes into their possession thru the sale of virtual world goods, the REAL world cash that qaulifies as profit is taxable.