My current position is that this should probably resolve N/A at some point if the creator does not return / reply. There are a bunch of criteria laid out for both Yes and for No; none of those events have happened, and the due date has passed. Further extensions of the close date would also make sense given the history of that, but I don't really see a benefit to extending indefinitely.
I don't think the arguments I've seen / made are clear enough or well-sourced enough for me to want to mod resolve at this time.
I don't understand what the argument is for No here. My understanding for Yes:
It's income.
Sure, it gets donated or could, which could be deducted.
But that has to be included in the statement and competes against other deductions
Which amounts to having to pay taxes on the income, but getting to deduct the donations, which is normal.
Except that I think for normal users mana donations aren't deductible because of the Manifold corporate structure.
No side is just... it's not literally money, or a convertible currency? Plenty of other non-monetary compensation is taxable, just as non-monetary donations can be deductible. Is there more to the argument than that?
@EvanDaniel I think the argument for NO is that Manifold for Good (the 501c3 entity) donates at the direction of user. Which sounds very much like a Donor Advised Fund (DAF) to me. Any gains made inside the DAF are not your income, they are the charitable entity's income, and they aren't reported or taxed as your income. I think Manifold works the same.
(Users choose donations, but it's just a suggestion, users do not actually have control - the 501c3 has no obligation to donate as they say, and in fact Manifold has changed the rules, supporting this claim.)
This argument seems pretty clear to me for gains people make by trading on Manifold. The situation with mana paid to an employee is not clear to me in either direction.
@jack I think it is like a DAF in that fashion, but not actually a DAF. In particular, if it was actually a DAF then I would expect my donations into the DAF to be tax deductible. But I think you're right about the logic for gains inside Manifold not being taxable or reportable since they aren't my income.
Compensation given for labor in the form of donations to a charitable organization aren't normally reportable or taxable, right? Like if my employer has a donation matching program or something, the match isn't something I have to worry about on my taxes, I just report my normal income and deduct my donation. So if the Mana was functionally a donation to a 501c3 then it wouldn't be reportable, but normal Mana purchases are not that.
@EvanDaniel the donations into manifold for good (which are largely grants from EA orgs) are tax deductible! It's a 501c3. But when you buy mana that goes into manifold the for profit entity. So that is not deductible.
When manifold gives employees mana, that could be viewed as manifold for good (the 501c3) giving the employees something like a regranting budget of sorts. It doesn't come out of manifold the for profit. But then this story gets more complicated if you can redeem mana for other things besides charity.