Throw Yoshi P in a harbor.
Continue reading “Grab the Tea, Final Fantasy XIV Announces Sales Taxes”
Tag: Tax
Virtually Everyone Possesses Duped Cash In DC Universe Online
DC Universe Online has a problem; An exploit allowed players to inject a gross amount of money into the game’s economy. How gross? According to Daybreak, trillions. Enough that virtually everyone in the game is now in possession of the fake cash, regardless of whether or not you’re aware of its origins. The cash has made its way through the economy and into so many player’s hands that Daybreak shut down trading cash and use of the broker while they figured out what to do about it.
The answer? Fix the exploit, ban the exploiters, and enforce a one-time “progressive tax” to fix the economy. You rich folks aren’t going to like this.
We have settled on six tax brackets for this one-time event, totaled at the ACCOUNT level, which are as follows:
- Cash below $500,000,000 is not taxed at all.
- Cash between 500,000,001 and 10,000,000,000 is taxed at 5%
- Cash between 10,000,000,001 and 15,000,000,000 is taxed at 10%.
- Cash between 15,000,000,001 and 20,000,000,000 is taxed at 20%.
- Cash between 20,000,000,001 and 25,000,000,000 is taxed at 25%.
- Cash above 25,000,000,001 is taxed at 100%.
Daybreak has admitted that the goal is not to fix the economy in one swoop, but to get rid of most of the cash that was introduced with the exploit. Their “look on the bright side” explanation is certainly something.
“We also want to maintain some of the scale of wealth legitimately present in the game. You may have less cash after this tax, but for the most part you will still have more than the people you had more than before, and less than the people you had less than before.”
On the plus side, if you had your investments wrapped up in items instead of cash, you’re pretty much safe from the number squash.
Source: DCUO
In 2018, Activision Blizzard Got $228 Million From Taxpayers For Existing
If you live in the United States and thought you could get away with not giving Activision money simply by not buying their products, you’re in for a nasty surprise.
ITEP, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, posted a list of 60 companies avoiding all federal income taxes in 2018.
“For decades, profitable Fortune 500 companies have manipulated the tax system to avoid paying even a dime in tax on billions of dollars in U.S. profits. This ITEP report provides the first comprehensive look at how corporate tax changes under the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act affect the scale of corporate tax avoidance. The report finds that in 2018, 60 of America’s biggest corporations zeroed out their federal income taxes on $79 billion in U.S. pretax income. Instead of paying $16.4 billion in taxes at the 21 percent statutory corporate tax rate, these companies enjoyed a net corporate tax rebate of $4.3 billion.”
Activision Blizzard notably started out 2019 with the best results in company history, which they celebrated by firing nearly a thousand workers. While celebrating their major financial success and putting hundreds of people out of work, Activision also wound up claiming a -51% effective tax rate. Yes, Activision got $228 million from US taxpayers simply for existing.
We should all get a ride on Bobby Kotick’s private plane. We helped pay for it after all.
Source: ITEP
[NM] Rockstar North Paid No Taxes, Earned Tax Relief
It’s hard to look at Rockstar North and not see dollar signs (or pound signs) around the massive success of Grand Theft Auto V, but this week’s news is sure to set some fires in more than a few bellies as the company’s finances come into more scrutiny.
TaxWatch UK a thinktank that tracks business earnings reported this week that Rockstar North has made an estimated $5 billion in profit over the last six years. Despite this massive amount of profit, the company still determined that it deserved tax relief and claimed £42 million between 2015 and 2017, or 19% of all government credits issued to the industry during that period. And with all of this income, can you guess how much Rockstar North paid in taxes? That’s right, absolutely nothing between 2009 and 2018.
The thinktank noted:
“It is outrageous that the UK taxpayer is being asked to shell out tens of millions of pounds in subsidy to the developers of Grand Theft Auto, when at the time that the game’s developers put in their tax credit application Grand Theft Auto V had already generated several billion dollars in sales and profits. This is a drive-by assault on the British taxpayer and corporate welfare scrounging at its very worst.”
It should also be noted that no one is claiming any illegal activity on the part of Rockstar North. The news of Rockstar’s nonexistent tax bill is likely to come off as especially egregious considering the company recently opened up a literal casino in Grand Theft Auto V where players from certain countries are able to buy virtual chips with real life currency.
(Source: TaxWatch)
Square Enix Saves A Ton On Its Taxes
Square Enix has announced that it expects to save 5.2 billion yen in total income taxes on its consolidated and non-consolidated statements of income for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2016. In layman’s terms, the company is going to save a lot on its taxes. The actual figures will be announced when Square Enix publishes its income reports, but for those of you outside of Japan 5.2 billion yen amounts to roughly $47 million dollars USD.
Normally this kind of news wouldn’t make it onto MMO Fallout, but normally tax savings aren’t worthy of a press release and Square Enix thinks otherwise. For those of you just remembering your taxes, the deadline to file was yesterday.
(Source: Square Enix Press Release)
MMO Fallout 