[arin-ppml] Fw: Accusation of fundamental, conflictofinterest/IPaddresspolicy pitched directly to ICANN

[Mike Burns]

Taxation of the Internet is a local government matter. In the States political pressure has resulted in little to no taxation.
The same forces will act on these new assets.
Taxes are bad, but their existence is no reason to avoid a market.

Regards,
Mike


  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Ray Hunter 
  To: arin-ppml at arin.net ; Mike Burns 
  Sent: Tuesday, May 03, 2011 1:56 PM
  Subject: Re: [arin-ppml] Fw: Accusation of fundamental, conflictofinterest/IPaddresspolicy pitched directly to ICANN


Whilst I don't necessarily agree than an IPv4 address has any "value", and it's your idea to create an (artificial) market where address allocations attract a hard dollar value (which they traditionally haven't had), I would note the following concern: Any legal entity that transfers an intangible asset across an (international) border for a payment is almost certainly going to attract the attention of more than one government entity regarding accounting and taxation, not least for Value Added Tax, international transfer pricing, avoidance of income tax ......

See for example http://www.kluwerlaw.com/Catalogue/titleinfo.htm?ProdID=904119925X

The ARIN service region includes Canada, many Caribbean and North Atlantic islands, and the United States. The Internet is even bigger.

So would your market free of government restrictions and taxes be international, limited to national boundaries? NAFTA? state boundaries? or what?

Would corporations and not for profit entities now have to enter an asset value in their annual accounts for the value of an IPv4 allocation?

If something has a value, and can therefore be taxed, it's much more likely to attract more government control, not less. Just look at the wireless spectrum allocation auctions. Is this what you want for the Internet?

Be careful what you wish for.

regards,
RayH
My interest is in having a market for the buying and selling of IP addresses free from government and psuedo-government restrictions like taxes and justification requirements.

Regards,

Mike Burns

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