NEWDOM: Re: offtopic for NANOG - do not read

Jim Fleming JimFleming at Unir.Corp
Sat Apr 26 19:59:21 UTC 1997


On Saturday, April 26, 1997 11:49 AM, Carl Oppedahl[SMTP:carl at oppedahl.com] wrote:
@ At 01:46 PM 04/26/97 -0500, Karl Denninger wrote:
@ 
<snip>
@ 
@ >I'd like you to point out the major corporations and public universities who
@ >will do this.  I'd also like you to immediately return that nice root server
@ >that NSI has paid for in part or whole, if you really believe this.
@ 
@ NSI has never paid for anything.  NSI has doled out money collected by it
@ from NSF and from domain name owners.  NSF (i.e. the US taxpayers) and the
@ COM, NET etc. domain name owners have paid for whatever it is you think NSI
@ has paid for.
@ 

Carl,

This is not quite true.

Paul Vixie has stated on the NANOG list that NSI
pays for his equipment. Paul is part of the Internet
Software Consortium (ISC) <http://www.ispc.org>
an IRS approved 501(c) company that accepts
donations so that Paul can write software that
supports the domain name system.

Their web site says they have a $700,000/year budget.

According to the IRS, you can get full-disclosure
on all of this.

===========

>From IRS Publication 557
Tax-Exempt Status for Your Organization

Page 13 Required Disclosures

"Certain tax-exempt organizations must make
available for public inspection the exemption
application and three most recent annual
information returns. Penalities generally are
provided for failure to comply with these
requirements. In addition, there are disclosure
requirements for:

	- Solicitation of nondeductible contributions
	- Sales of information or services that are
		available free from the government,
		and
	- Transactions or relationships with other
		organizations.

<...>

Page 45 - 501(c)(6) - Business Leagues, Etc.

"A business league, in general, is an
association of persons having some common
business interest, the purpose of which is to
promote such common interest and not to
engage in a regular business of a kind
ordinarily carried on for profit. Trade associations
and professional associations are considered
to be business leagues."

<...>

 "Dues and assessments used for political
and certain legislative activities"...."No deduction
is allowed...in connection with any attempt to
influence the general public or segments thereof
with respect to legislative matters (otherwise known
as grassroots lobbying)..."

<...>

CAUTION: A tax-exempt trade association, labor
union, or similar organization is considered to be
engaging in grassroots lobbying if it contacts
prospective members or calls upon its own members
to contact their employees and customers for the
purpose of urging such persons to communicate
with their elected state or Congressional representatives
to support the promotion, defeat, or repeal of
legislation that is of direct interest to the organization.
Any dues or assessments directly related to such
activities are not deductible by the taxpayer, since
the individuals being contacted, who are not members
of the organization, constitute a segment of the
general public.

===============

Apparently, the ISC endorses the IAHC according
to the ITU's web site. NSI of course does not endorse
the IAHC.

Paul Vixie also has a for-profit company. It gets
a little confusing which activities are which. It is
not surprising that people have trouble figuring out
which hat these people where from one moment
to the next.



--
Jim Fleming
Unir Corporation
http://www.Unir.Corp

Check out...http://www.Naperville.Mall






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