US Senator Releases Paper Arguing Against Taxing Crypto Miners

US Senator Releases Paper Arguing Against Taxing Crypto Miners

US Senator Cynthia Lummis, a crypto advocate, has released a research paper arguing that taxing Bitcoin miners would be detrimental to the United States. The paper, published by the Bitcoin Policy Institute, argues that such a tax would stifle innovation, harm the environment, and reduce US competitiveness in the global digital asset market. “Proposals to tax crypto miners are simply a heavy-handed attempt to stifle innovation,” Lummis said in a statement. “The United States should be encouraging the development of this new technology, not trying to tax it out of existence.” In March, the White House revived a tax proposal that would impose a 30% tax on the energy used to mine cryptocurrencies. The proposal was met with criticism from the crypto industry, which argues that it would unfairly target a nascent industry and stifle innovation. Lummis’s paper provides a detailed analysis of the potential economic impact of a crypto mining tax. The paper finds that such a tax would reduce the number of crypto miners in the United States, leading to a decline in the supply of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. This would, in turn, lead to higher prices for cryptocurrencies and make it more difficult for US businesses to compete in the global digital asset market.