Interesting People mailing list archives
IP: Network taxation is REAL and HERE
From: David Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>
Date: Sun, 12 Oct 1997 22:44:32 -0400
The congress sensing the smell of dollars that can be grabbed have decided in a House/Senate conference that the Next Generation Internet activities of the NSF are be funded through the Research and Related Activities budget, and are to receive up to $23 million from the collection of domain name fees. In case you were not familiar with the pocket that the $30 Million will come out of, it is a "TAX" ( 30 %) on the $50 registration fee that NSI collects under the cooperative agreement and holds. While the intentions within the NSF DNCRI have been shown to have been naive, they thought at the time that the portion of the fees could be used, not for Internet operations, but for preserving the Internet intellectual infrastructure, most especially the independent operation of the IETF secretariat. The NSF wanted the Internet community to coalesce around the best way to use these monies. They thought that such would happen. unfortunately they were wrong. The congress has now done a preemptive grab for those funds to use for the NSF NGI support. If that is not a TAX I have not seen one (well the Executive wants to call such user Fees in the FAA case). There are a lot of issues here. They include the right of the congress to say to NSI to write a check to the NSF for that monies. The cooperative agreement seemed as usual vague on the issue of how to expend the funds and who controlled them. Second and more important, the Administration has called loudly for no taxes on the Internet at this time. If the grab succeeds,. you can bet your bottom dollar (pound, mark etc) that other governments large and small, domestic and foreign will follow in the lead of the congress and arrange to impose fees that can be used to fund a variety of activities. You can also bet that the congress will elaborate such mechanisms if this one works. I have been opposed, since the ANS slush fund days, to the establishment of such "fees" as part of the NSF agreements it did with network service providers. Such funds often escape public accounting. At least this one will not suffer that fate. I wonder in the future if the congress will not try to impose a 5 cents fee on sending notes such as this. Dave PS: there is a larger issue that should not be lost in the inevitable noise over this tax. The NGI is critical to the welfare of the US leadership in communications research and commercial strength. We must not allow the importance of this activity to be compromised and delayed while we try to place the responsibility for any mischief the congress has engaged in. See my Tokyo Diary #3. ************************************************** "Photons have neither morals nor visas" -- Dave Farber 1996 **************************************************
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- IP: Network taxation is REAL and HERE David Farber (Oct 11)
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- IP: Network taxation is REAL and HERE David Farber (Oct 12)