yes they should be taxed slightly more. maybe not 30% but more than the current.
Why?
We’ve got a “progressive” tax here in the US. The goal is not to “punish” the wealthy, but to generate tax revenue in order to pay for social welfare programs.
As there is no need to generate funding for such programs in Tyria, there is no reason to implement a progressive tax either, other than to “punish” players for successful trading.
The progressive tax rate in the US applies to income earned through wages which is how most of the middle class earn money.
The wealthy generally become wealthy through other mechanism which are taxed quite differently.
It is not a stretch at all to say that the progressive tax system is what keeps the middle class from becoming wealthy.
Now you can argue about whether this was the intent or just an effect but it’s been understood to be this way for most a century so we can surmise that this effect is acceptable to the people who write the tax code.
In a functioning society, there are two reasons to have a tax code – first, to fund the government and the second purpose (some will argue that I’ve got these backwards) is social engineering.
If you want less of something, tax it. If you want more of something, subsidize it.
You might be able to make an argument that “taxes” in GW2 “fund the government” (Anet) to the degree that the demand for gold triggers gem purchases but the desire for gems is more more driven by items in the gem shop than it is by gold sinks on TP transactions.
The real reason for the TP tax is to create some level of economic friction to slow down trading volumes on the TP. You can’t just flip massive volumes for a 1-2% uptick in price – you have to have enough margin to overcome the TP tax of 15% – the best way to do that is to actually acquire something through normal play (at essentially zero out of pocket cost) and then sell it.
Trading for profit requires players to anticipate market movements of over 15% which requires either excellent luck, planning and time or a good speculation insight.
Putting aside the technical problems with implementing tax brackets in GW2 (which would be trivial to circumvent and you could eventually see people banned for tax evasion and money laundering of in game currency having nothing to do with RMT – and that would be insane)
It seems to me that this idea is driven by the belief that it is somehow wrong for a player to want to become wealthy in the game through trading but not wrong to become wealthy by “playing the game”.
This is a highly ideological viewpoint and one that not everyone shares with the OP. While real life progressives can at least point to social programs supported by tax revenue as cover for the social engineering and behavioral distortions caused by the tax code, there is no such thing happening in GW2.
The OP has bypassed all pretense of social utilitarianism and gone directly to the social engineering aspect of “taxes”.
To what end?
Are lower income players contracting conditions at higher rates than high income players?
Are players who can only afford blue or green colored gear more likely to fail in a dungeon?
Are they more likely to experience a criminal assault in their home district or be searched by the Seraph patrol for hidden contraband?
It is a mistake to believe that holding one player back will help another player move ahead. We all have different gifts and talents and we should be free to exercise them for our own profit and enjoyment.
That is what freedom is – self ownership and self determination. If we can’t at least preserve that in a video game, then we are truly lost as a species.
“We’ll preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we’ll sentence them to take the last step into a thousand years of darkness. "
