02-16-2007, 10:44 PM
Quote:This is all stupid. I hope congress and the IRS get a freaking clue and leave gaming worlds out of real-world tax laws.
I think that is actually kind of the problem... the game worlds are out of the laws. As with many things in the realm of computer technology, the existing laws didn't really foresee what has come to pass. The potential exists here for people to make thousands of dollars in real money, but how are those transactions defined? Is it income for a service provided? Taxable sales? Capital gains? The IRS is obligated to apply the tax codes as Congress has written them. It becomes less a matter of common sense, and more a matter of which law actually applies legally to this situation. Since people are making lots of real world money for this stuff, it potentially screws the rest of us unless the laws are adapted to protect amateur gamers. When IRS finds some guy raking in huge money through a sophisticated ring of MMO players, they are going to want their piece of the pie, and they are going to have to apply whatever laws fit, and who knows what their lawyers will decide and what ramifications it could have on the rest of us.