Re: [ga] .com, and possible "material breach" of the contract

["kidsearch" <kidsearch@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Where do you get that 2/3 of the money they receive has to be in the form of
donations? Some nonprofits are completely funded by the government. Some are
fee-based services such as social service orgs that use a sliding scale
based on income format. Others make marketing partnerships with for profit
entities, etc. etc.

I run a charity, Jeff, and the IRS has never stated any regulation similar
to your 2/3 rule. How I spend the money that IS received is very regulated,
but how I get the funds, as long as it is through legal means, has no
regulation I am aware of. Only in the instance of UBI (Unrelated Business
Income) is it covered at all. That means if I run a missing children
organization, but also charge people for parking in my parking lot, the org
has to pay taxes on the parking lot income, because it is "unrelated" to
finding missing children.

ICANN receiving fees related to domain names is not UBI, so they would not
be taxed for it. Please point me to any website or any IRS code that
mentions 2/3 of their money must come from donations.

PS: What in my post makes you think I forgot about Registrants? Last time I
checked, most registrants are users of the Internet. So if I include all
users, that must inevitably include users who have registered a domain name.
What I hoped for in my post was some advice from someone who actually HAS
legal knowledge in the area of taxation and civil liability. Maybe you
missed that part.

Chris McElroy, President,
Kidsearch Network
http://www.KidsearchNetwork.org
http://www.MissingChildrenBlog.com
http://www.RunawayTeens.org


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jeff Williams" <jwkckid1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "kidsearch" <kidsearch@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: "General Assembly of the DNSO" <ga@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; "Kathy Smith"
<KSMITH@xxxxxxxxxxxx>; "icann board address" <icann-board@xxxxxxxxx>; "Paul
Twomey" <twomey@xxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, October 30, 2005 12:03 AM
Subject: Re: [ga] .com, and possible "material breach" of the contract


> You like Richard forgot about Registrants also largely not being
represented.
>
> The answer to your first question is yes as ICANN is supposed to be
> a non-profit Calaifornia Corp. As such, 2/3's of it's funding is required
> to be from donations. As registration fees cannot be considered a
> legitimate donation, ICANN could be challenged regarding such
> fees/tax accordingly. As this is an old issue which was hotly debated
> over 3 years ago now via Esther Dysons suggestion of this such a
> fee, perhaps ICANN BoD and Staff members have thought
> such had been long forgotten.
>
> kidsearch wrote:
>
> > Good point Richard. It is akin to a tx and therefore requires ICANN to
have
> > an active constituency that represents the users that will pay the tax.
> >
> > I believe it would hold up in court. That may be the action that has to
be
> > taken. Besides ICANN would cave to lawsuits. That is evident.
> >
> > Some of you with more legal experience please comment.
> >
> > 1. Can this annual price hike be related to a tax in the legal sense?
> > 2. If so, does law require representation in ICANN or does our supposed
> > representation in the US government suffice?
> > 3. If yes to #2, how does that affect representation for non-us users?
> > 4. If the answers to #1 and #2 were yes, would it hold up in a court of
law?
> > 5. Even if the answers were not clear on #1 and #2, would a lawsuit
shine
> > enough light on the subject and cause enough concern among the ICANN
BoD,
> > that it might be worth the effort?
> >
> > Chris McElroy, President,
> > Kidsearch Network
> > http://www.KidsearchNetwork.org
> > http://www.MissingChildrenBlog.com
> > http://www.RunawayTeens.org
> > http://www.disastervictims.org
> > http://thingsthatjustpissmeoff.blogspot.com
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Richard Henderson" <richardhenderson@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > To: "General Assembly of the DNSO" <ga@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > Cc: "Jeff Williams" <jwkckid1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>; "George Kirikos"
> > <gkirikos@xxxxxxxxx>
> > Sent: Saturday, October 29, 2005 9:40 AM
> > Subject: Re: [ga] .com, and possible "material breach" of the contract
> >
> > > What concerns me (among other things) is that this 'taxation' is not
> > > accompanied by representation on behalf of the people being taxed.
> > >
> > > It is abundantly clear that ICANN has excluded ordinary internet users
> > from
> > > meaningful representation in its processes. Even its supposed body for
> > > individual internet users (ALAC) bans the membership of...
individuals!
> > >
> > > Prior to that, ICANN's motives and intentions were transparent when it
> > > expelled the elected representatives of the At Large movement from its
> > Board
> > > Room.
> > >
> > > Taxation without representation is more like the start of tyranny.
Hence
> > > Verisign's newly-acquired powers to raise costs to registrants on an
> > annual
> > > basis have been granted without reference to the people who will
actually
> > be
> > > footing the bill.
> > >
> > > ICANN's craven surrender to vested interests, and its rejection of
> > bottom-up
> > > democracy, are profoundly disturbing.
> > >
> > > Yrs,
> > >
> > > Richard Henderson
> > >
> > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > From: "Jeff Williams" <jwkckid1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > >
> > > > What's very disturbing to me... is that as ICANN is
> > > > supposed to be a non-profit corporation it... has the right to
> > > > collect fees (Basically a Tax) on registrants...
> > >
> > >
>
> Regards,
> --
> Jeffrey A. Williams
> Spokesman for INEGroup LLA. - (Over 134k members/stakeholders strong!)
> "Obedience of the law is the greatest freedom" -
>    Abraham Lincoln
>
> "Credit should go with the performance of duty and not with what is
> very often the accident of glory" - Theodore Roosevelt
>
> "If the probability be called P; the injury, L; and the burden, B;
> liability depends upon whether B is less than L multiplied by
> P: i.e., whether B is less than PL."
> United States v. Carroll Towing  (159 F.2d 169 [2d Cir. 1947]
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