Undead Tax Exemption: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

{{quote|'''Chuck:''' ''(about testifying in court)'' I'm going to say "I'm somebody!"

 

 

When the [[Masquerade]] of an extranormal person (whether spirit, [[Time Travel|time traveler]], dimension-hopper, [[Robot Girl]] or in some cases, immortal) is able to suddenly enter society and seamlessly pose as a normal human despite the major record gaps, lack of official citizenship, or other problems that would arise if it were to occur in real life. [[Alien Among Us|Space aliens in disguise]] and even [[Human Aliens|aliens that don't need a disguise]] never seem to get the same problems with immigration that [[The Illegal|regular aliens]] have.

 

{{examples}}

* It occurs with Rukia in ''[[Bleach]]'' (although somewhat justified since the forces of Soul Society are easily comparable to [[The Men in Black]], right down to the [[Laser-Guided Amnesia]]).

** Later in the series {{spoiler|[[The Rival|Renji]]}} does the same. This also works in reverse, since characters who leave again are [[Ret-Gone|forgotten by anyone]] without sufficient power to resist the effect.

{{quote|''You look like an anime fan who's unable to accept this ridiculous premise.''}}

* ''[[Girls Bravo]]'': Miharu and other [[Human Alien]] girls enter the school system without any difficulty.

 

* [[Subverted Trope]] in ''[[Ultimate Spider-Man]]'' when {{spoiler|Gwen Stacy comes back to life}} and a letter from Iron Man to the Vice Principal doesn't immediately clear things up.

* In ''[[The Sandman]]'', immortal Hob Gadling avoids suspicion by faking his death once in awhile and leaving the money to a "relative" with the same name. It still doesn't solve the problem of government records, though, in the modern era.

** Averted with the long-lived caveman who dies in a modern city - when his modern-day son goes through his father's possessions for the funeral, he finds paperwork for multiple alternate identities and funds to take advantage of them.

** In ''World's End'' we see that the immortals take care of one another when they encounter others in trouble, so if there's an immortal of some sort working in an influential position, they probably give the others a helping hand in getting proper documents.

* Actually dealt with early on with ''[[The Shadow]]''. In a tale written by Alfred Bester, the Shadow encountered a caveman who gained immunity to aging from a meteor. This caveman decided to aid the Axis in winning World War II by sabotaging the US war effort. He sought the position of War Labor Chief of the country, but since he did not have a birth certificate, he stole Moe Shrevnitz's birth certificate, bringing him in conflict with the Shadow (the caveman had earlier attempted to buy some business interests from Lamont Cranston, and displayed unusual personal knowledge about Cranston).

** Vandal Savage was a ''[[The Shadow]]'' villain?

* Gwen Poole in ''[[Gwenpool]]'' is sent from her real-world-style Earth to 616. She doesn't have any official documentation until [[Doctor Strange]] cuts (''not'' copies -- he says this may erase the memories of her from her original universe) her information from her original reality to 616.

 

* Also averted with Doug Sangnoir of ''[[Drunkard's Walk]]''. When he arrives in a world advanced enough to require identity records, one of his first priorities is to get such records created for himself. In many worlds, this requires him to deal with criminals who can forge birth certificates and other paperwork.

 

* [[Subverted Trope]] in ''The Associate'': Laurel Ayres' creation that allows her to pass off her ideas becomes so prominent and is [[Invented Individual|so realistic]] that she is accused of murdering him when she fakes his death.

** ''S1m0ne'' has a similar plot.

* ''[[Encino Man]]'' tried this, with the defrosted caveman dubbed "Link" and evidently enrolled in the local high school, with paperwork and everything. Until the [[Jerk Jock]] uncovers the truth. Seems very unlikely none of the school officials bothered to look at the paperwork (it was medical records for a dog).

 

* The eponymous character of Guy Gavriel Kay's ''[[Ysabel]]'' is briefly annoyed when, having been reincarnated in France for the umpteenth time since the Roman Empire, her old stash of francs that she hid last go-round is now useless. She steals another woman's purse instead.

* In the novel ''[[Methuselah's Children]]'' by [[Robert A. Heinlein]], the problems with getting an Undead Tax Exemption are mentioned as one reason why the long-lived Howard Family members are attempting to see if they can end their [[Masquerade]]. In ''[[Time Enough for Love]]'', it's shown that their descendants throughout the centuries continue to come up with ways to hide the fact that they're much longer lived than their fellow humans. The records of their genealogy, however, are fastidiously maintained in the secret Family files.

* The title character from ''The Vampire Tapestry'', who got the urge to hibernate for decades every generation or so, was fearful of doing so in modern times, in part because of this trope. (Also because he was worried humanity [[World War III|might not even be around anymore]] the next time he woke up.)

 

* Throw in some [[Lampshade Hanging]] in ''[[Dead Like Me]]'': Something is mentioned in early episodes about switching persona on a semi-regular basis, although this never actually occurs in the series. The series timeframe never got past the point of plausibility for a normal person; presumably, if George kept at it for a decade or so...

** Reapers also get new "real" identities with the help of reapers who work in the government.

* One of Parker's cover identities on ''[[Leverage]]'' is so thoroughly documented that she got called for jury duty.

 

 

* While not undead, this issue sometimes comes up in ''[[Werewolf: The Apocalypse]]'' with [[Humanity Ensues|wolf-born]] Garou. The game itself doesn't explain what they do if they want to integrate with human society, it's just taken for granted that the other werewolves and their kinfolk (humans born with the gene recessive) forge identities for them, and possibly teach them reading and other basic skills.

** Considering the Glass Walkers, it's not hard to figure out how they pull it off...

* King Kaius III of Karrnath in the ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' setting ''[[Eberron]]'' was known as King Kaius I when he was turned into a vampire. He faked his death, returning years later posing as his own grandson. Since he's the King he doesn't have to worry about paying taxes, but he is concerned with keeping the truth about his identity secret from his people.

** He should take a page from [[Ravenloft|Strahd]], of Ravenloft fame. Strahd has for almost a dozen generations taken a wife, had a son named Strahd who looks just like him, and passed from the world just in time for his adult son to take over his realm. You may wonder why no one catches on, but the peasants do know of the 'Devil Strahd' and perhaps [[World Half Empty|the setting]] [[Crapsack World|helps him out]] [[Fisher King|for its own]] [[Genius Loci|reasons]].

* Strangely, despite [[D20 Modern]]'s Urbana Arcana setting being all about [[Refugee From TV Land|people from fantasy worlds being pulled into the "real" world]] there's '''one''' mention of the legal issues not being from this reality would entail: Checking a bad guy's records determines they were "obviously forged".

 

* ''[[You Can't Take It with You]]'' presents Martin Vanderhoff (or Grampa, as he's usually referred to in the play). Throughout the play he is hounded by an I.R.S. agent for not having paid his income taxes (Martin doesn't believe in it). This plot is resolved when the agent discovers that Martin Vanderhoff has been legally dead for years and therefore cannot owe taxes. {{spoiler|Martin Vanderhoff and his family had a man living with them for years whom they never learned the name of (it was impolite to ask after a while), and when he died, they decided to give him Martin's name for the death certificate (since it was such a nice name and all). Thus, according to the government's records, Martin Vanderhoff was dead and therefore exempt from owing taxes.}}

 

* Aigis in ''[[Persona 3]]'' seems to blend in with society quite well with just a simple wardrobe change, despite being a robot. Being backed by a considerably powerful organization helps justify this.

** There's also Ryoji, who appears out of nowhere as an exchange student. As {{spoiler|the [[Anthropomorphic Personification]] and Avatar of Death}}, questions like where he spends his off-school hours and where his transfer records came from are left unanswered.

* In ''[[Fallout 3]]'', {{spoiler|Harkness}} is an android from the Commonwealth named A3-21 who had his face altered and his memories as A3-21 repressed by Dr. Pinkerton. {{spoiler|He's now in charge of Rivet City's security and is on their leadership council.}} Arguably a [[Justified Trope]] case, what with the whole [[After the End|post-nuclear apocalypse thing]]—people are no longer likely to be very concerned with paperwork. Hell, as long as you can shoot something reliably, most places will take you no questions asked.

* Averted in ''[[Mass Effect 2]]''. When Shepard visits the Citadel for the first time after being brought back to life, C-Sec records still list him/her as dead. A brief chat with [[Cowboy Cop|Captain Bailey]] has the latter explain that rectifying this sort of thing would usually require about nine days of running around various Citadel bureaucratic offices but he handily fixes everything with a push of a button (it helps that Shepard is a legendary hero and that the C-Sec DNA scanners have verified that it's truly him/her).

 

* [[Justified Trope]] in ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'', where someone in the government is responsible for creating the legal identities.

** That, and everyone is either a shapeshifter or has access to a transformation device of some sort.

** Which is to say, this mainly depends on how much of a jerk your local MIB hapens to be:

'''Mr. Verres''': To be fair, you ''did'' enter the country on falsified information.

* Something like this happens in ''[[The Wotch]]'' with Mingmei, who is a middle-aged [http://www.thewotch.com/?epDate=2003-02-12 Latino man transformed into a teenage Asian girl]. A [[Laser-Guided Amnesia|quick memory-altering spell]] allows her to pass herself off as an exchange student, but the larger problems of lack of paperwork, a real family back in Japan, or any means of support are not addressed... [http://www.thewotch.com/?epDate=2005-10-05 till] [http://www.thewotch.com/?epDate=2005-11-25 later].

* ''[http://sharingauniverse.comicgenesis.com/ Sharing a Universe]''. Lynette is still able to get a job, rent an apartment, and otherwise live a perfectly normal life despite being an Elf from a parallel fantasy-themed universe. Lampshaded from time to time with her lack of ID for buying alcohol, and Allison suspecting that she's an illegal immigrant.

* Inverted in ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' with Aylee, who mentions she has problems surviving in society because she doesn't have photo ID. So apparently if she had that, it'd be no problem [[Department of Redundancy Department|she's an alien who looks like the alien from]] ''[[Alien]]''.

 

* ''[[Code Lyoko]]'' is an aversion. The heroes go to great lengths to give Aelita a plausible identity ("Aelita Stones, transfer student from Canada"), Jérémie even creating false ID papers for her. And the cover almost gets blown several times, mostly because of Sissi's snooping. From where they got the money for her tuition at Kadic—as well as clothes, cell phone and computer—is left unexplained, however.

** Kadic is in France. Since most schools (except colleges) are state-financed in France, the school staff probably assumes her family pays taxes.

* Averted in ''[[Transformers Animated]]''. {{spoiler|Sari Sumdac quickly loses any say in how her father's company is run because there's no proof she legally exists. Since she was born from a Cybertronian protoform and Issac's DNA, he had no way to claim her as his actual daughter, instead just raising her himself.}}

 

* In most nations that keep track of citizens' identities, forging bogus credentials for fugitives and illegal immigrants is a major criminal industry.

* Individuals whose original identities are unknown, such as abandoned infants or the occasional amnesiac, may need to have fresh identity documentation issued if their names can't be determined.