Request By:
Mr. Frank Sgroi, Chairman
Kentucky Athletic Commission
Kentucky Towers, Suite 306
430 West Walnut Street
Louisville, Kentucky 40202
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; Joseph R. Johnson, Assistant Attorney General
In your letter dated August 7, 1980, you ask whether the Kentucky Athletic Commission can issue a boxing promoter's license to the Joe Martin for Sheriff Campaign Committee to hold boxing matches in Louisville and whether the committee would be exempt from the five percent (5%) gross receipts tax.
KRS 229.071 provides that no person shall conduct a professional match without an annual license from the Commission. KRS 229.011(3) defines "person" as an individual, partnership, corporation, association or club. A check with the Kentucky Election Finance Registry discloses that the Joe Martin for Sheriff Committee was registered on June 6, 1980. However, since the committee is not an individual, partnership or corporation, the question becomes whether the committee is an association or club within the meaning of the statute.
Black's Law Dictionary, Fourth Edition, defines "association" as follows:
The act of a number of persons in uniting together for some special purpose or business. The persons so joining. It is a word of vague meaning used to indicate a collection of persons who have joined together for a certain object.
"Club" is defined as follows:
A voluntary, incorporated or unincorporated association of persons for purposes of a social, literary, or political nature, or the like.
It is the opinion of this office that the Joe Martin for Sheriff Campaign Committee is both an association and a club and is therefore a "person" within the meaning of KRS 229.171 and can be licensed by the Commission to conduct boxing matches.
In addition, there being no statutory exemption for political action committees, the Joe Martin for Sheriff Campaign Committee is liable for the payment of the gross receipts tax the same as any other licensed promoter.