When will Washington decide to screw domain investors?
When the U.S. health care bill passed, one of the provisions that got some attention is a tax on indoor tanning salons. The 10% tax goes into effect in July.
When I saw this provision, I realized right away why this particular provision was added. Sure, it raises some money (defrays the cost of the health care bill). And it is somewhat related to health, since tanning can have some negative health consequences. But the first thing that popped into my mind was how the tanning salon business got picked on because it’s not big enough to put up a good defense.
Just about everyone else in the health care debate threw millions of dollars at shaping the policy. But the Indoor Tanning Association couldn’t keep up with that. It reminds me of the domain name industry, which can’t beat the big pockets of sometimes competing interests.
Last night I read an article in Forbes (Pole Dancing and Other Sins, May 10) that shows how another medical interest threw the tanning salons under the bus:
Dermatologists, arguing that heavy use of indoor tanning has been linked to a higher risk of deadly skin cancer, convinced the Senate that revenues from the tanning tax should replace a tax on cosmetic surgery (the so-called Bo-Tax) adopted by the House. “We were rolled by the doctors,” laments John Overstreet, executive director of the Indoor Tanning Association.
That’s how Washington works.
The domain industry doesn’t have a lot of money, but fortunately it still has a presence in Washington. We should support that.
JS says
I thought the ICA was dead ? (Wasn’t its termination discussed on TheDomains a while back ?)
Andrew Allemann says
@ JS – it’s still here, just not a grassroots organization anymore. Membership is only people willing to invest something like $5k/year.
Dude says
Domainers do have money. The problem is they are too greedy and lazy to put meaningful amounts money into lobbying when needed.
Shorty says
Lazy? Maybe you, but most domainers are very hard working.
Greedy? Who is not greedy?
Steve M says
“Who Will Throw Domain Investors Under the Bus?”
No need to wait to find out …
… ’cause we’re one of the few industries/ professions that’s actually thrown ourselves under the bus.
Louise says
ICANN already threw domain investors under the bus by passing Verisign’s process for Bulk Transfer of Partial Portfolio Acquisition of dot coms and dot nets in July of ’09, puts the control of dot coms and dot nets to Registrars.
Consequently, Verisign’s stock is up 53% since July 09.
(sorry to harp, Andrew! 🙂 )
hotman says
Domainers are NOT investors, they ARE speculators
Stephen Douglas says
Losers always say when they’ve been blindsided:
“Huh? How did that happen?”
It will happen because the players in our industry couldn’t come together to form a united force. “Every man for himself” is a standard ideology for domainers, it’s in our nature.
The truth is- a lot of early domain big winners have made enough money for them to no longer care what happens in the domain industry because they already have their jing. That leaves about 90% of the rest of us to decide how to UNITE and under what flag. Only 10% of all active domainers can live on domaining full time. It’s like being an actor. Either you pull it together and win, or you struggle.
@ Hotman
Come on bro, “speculators” ARE investors, albeit less knowledgeable. When you buy a domain name, regardless what you’re going to do with it, you’ve INVESTED in an “appreciable marketing asset.” How it appreciates is how you work with that domain.
So Hotman, define the difference between “speculator” and “investor” in domains. I’m interested…
mike says
i think we need to turn the question around and ask who will throw politicians under the bus?
Mike says
@mike: I agree. Those buffoons passed health care when the majority of citizens did not want it. I think out national problems are FAR MORE worrisome than ‘who will throw domainers under the bus?”. We’ve got rampant crime/gang problems, the illegal immigration mess, the outsourcing cancer that continues to eat away at our economy and our congress is CURRENTLY working on making Puerto Rico the 51st State by the same shifty, scammy tactics that it passed health care “reform” with.
I say fire them all in November and do not vote for anyone who will not agree to cut their elected salary by 50% and join the health care crap that was shoved up our butts last month.
As far as domainers go? Better sell those domains as fast as you can so that you can pocket as much money as possible before the massive tax hikes that are undoubtedly going to kick in, in order to pay for the spending frenzy that has been going on these past 10+ years.