Simple Solution to MMOGs = Massive MoneyLaundering Online Games
By Shawn on Wednesday, September 26th, 2007 at 2:28 PM PST In Game Related Laws, Gamer Life
Law of the Game’s Mark Methenitis has a simple solution to the problems Symantec is addressing. For those of you who missed it in the recent barrage of Halo 3 hysteria, Symantec has discovered that MMOs are the perfect forum for money laundering. Methenitis offers a solution although some players, particularly the ones raking in dough off these games would object.
Methenitis proposes taxation on virtual revenue based on cash out value. Technically, players are supposed to claim any money earned from an MMO as ordinary income, but as you can imagine, few do. Having the department of taxation for whatever country the player resides in notified of transactions would tie a person to an MMO account and make it less easy to overlook one individual filtering money through 100 accounts.
Marl Menthenitis writes a blog Law of the Game that covers video games, gambling and other legal discussions specializing in Video Game Law. His credentials come with education, law school and gamer card.
via Law of the Game
don’t ruin my fun…
Yes, it’s simple.
Cashed out money should be taxed as earned revenue.
There is no reason that it shouldn’t be.
It could be very easy for the government to both prevent money laundering and to earn tax revenue because all of these transactions are being online in venues such as e-bay. There are records of all of these transactions.