[European Foresight study requests your opinion] Taxes on virtual

A non-commercial foresight study run on behalf of the European Commission raises several claims also to the future of virtual worlds like for example "Virtual visits to museums over the internet are more popular than physical visits." One of these claims should be especially interesting for you: "A tax on transactions in virtual worlds (like SL) be raised?" We ask you as experts on this topic to reveal your opinion on when you think this claim will become true. The results will be considered in the European research project. Hence, your opinion will influence European political decision-making. You participate by registering at

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Thank you for your participation! Andreas

Moderator: This is definitely tax-related and an interesting claim. My speculation is that people not inclined to foreign travel will certainly use these virtual tours. But those inclined will go there anyway. Also the wealthy may be less inclined to use virtual tours. Thus, this would be a tax on the poor, the middle class, and on students.

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Reply to
Andreas Graefe
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Paid in the usual SL currency?

Seth

Reply to
Seth

Analogy could be the what few years ago people thought about web based purchases and that they should not be taxed. But over the years almost all US Websites charge taxes depending on the shipping address. I don't see this any different than buying products or services over web. If a transaction is taxable be it during physical visit or over the web I think it should be taxable.

Reply to
candaexpress

Websites charge sales taxes the same way that any mail-order business does. If they have any sales people or assets in the state where the customer is in they have to collect the tax. If not, they probably don't. There are some states that have reciprocal agreements, requiring their residents to collect taxes for sales to people in the other states. I'm not familiar with how popular that is or how it works in practice. Stu

Reply to
Stuart Bronstein

So if we play a game of Monopoly we should be sending the government something whenever we do a transaction? Seth

Reply to
Seth

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