Details emerge on U.S. virtual world tax probe
By Adam Reuters
SECOND LIFE, Dec 4 (Reuters) - A government economist has shed additional light on the U.S. congressional investigation into how tax law affects virtual economies, CNET and 3pointD reported this weekend.
Dan Miller, a senior economist with the Joint Economic Committee who first told Reuters about the investigation earlier this year, is also a World of Warcraft player with a personal stake in the question of whether virtual world income should be taxed.
“I’m really here wearing two hats. On the one hand I am a congressional staffer. But I’m also the Night Elf priest who works for Congress,” Miller told the State of Play/Terra Nova symposium at the New York Law School on Saturday, according to a report by 3pointD’s Mark Wallace.
“The first thing to make clear is that, contrary to what you may have read, the JEC is not seeking to impose a new tax on virtual economies,” Miller added. “If you look at our body of published work, you’ll find a very clear track record of supporting lower taxes and free markets. We are planning to do a study on virtual worlds, and (we) hope to have something published in the first part of next year.”
The JEC study will specifically look at “factual technical questions … like what is a taxable event in a virtual world,” CNET’s Daniel Terdiman reported.
Speaking at the conference, Texas Tech Professor Bryan Camp warned residents of virtual worlds such as Second Life and World of Warcraft that demands for more specific ownership rights might have the unintended consequence of summoning the tax man.
“Be careful what you ask for,” he said, according to 3pointD. “Players want more protection from irrational actions of game designers and more certainty over their assets in the game. Be careful, because taxes are always right around that corner.”
