U.S. President Joe Biden is considering imposing punitive taxes on cryptocurrency mining operations because "they cause harm to society," the White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) said in an announcement on Tuesday.
The Biden administration has proposed imposing a tax on miners equal to 30% of their energy costs, an unusual industry-specific penalty that could threaten profits for such companies.
The CEA said that currently crypto miners do not have to pay the full costs they cause, including local environmental pollution, higher energy prices, and the impact of increased greenhouse gas emissions on the climate. While other energy-intensive industries will not bear similar taxes, the CEA believes that "crypto mining does not generate the same local and national economic benefits as similarly consuming businesses." The Biden administration proposed a Digital Asset Mining Energy (DAME) excise tax in a document released by the U.S. Treasury on March 9. It is said that this tax could increase revenue by up to $3.5 billion over the next 10 years. (CoinDesk)
