objections to lawmakers about the cryptocurrency tax amendment to the $1
trillion infrastructure bill that is supported by the crypto community.
The White House subsequently announced its support for a competing
amendment.
Yellen Exerting Influence on Lawmakers Regarding Crypto Taxation
The new crypto tax proposal in the $1 trillion infrastructure bill has become a topic of intense controversy over the past week.
Two amendments have been put forward so far: one sponsored by
Senators Mark Warner, Rob Portman, and Kyrsten Sinema. The other, which
has gained the support of the crypto community, is sponsored by Senators
Ron Wyden, Cynthia Lummis, and Pat Toomey.
According to Washington Post reporter Jeff Stein, Treasury Secretary
Janet Yellen spoke with lawmakers Thursday to raise objections to the
amendment sponsored by Senators Toomey, Wyden, and Lummis. He tweeted Friday, citing sources familiar with the matter:
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has been privately
lobbying lawmakers against Wyden-Lummis-Toomey crypto amendment, as
White House seeks to fend off push to limit new regulatory authorities.
The cryptocurrency tax proposal in the infrastructure bill comprises
two key parts. The first requires payments worth more than $10,000 to be
reported to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The second requires
crypto “brokers” to file a type of 1099 form for certain kinds of crypto
transactions.
The definition of what a crypto broker is in the original proposal
includes miners and software developers. This has caused an uproar in
the crypto community as miners and software developers do not know who
their users are, making it impossible to report to the IRS. Some
lawmakers have slammed the original proposal, including Senator Pat
Toomey, who said the plan was “unworkable.” The two amendments aim to clarify the definition of a broker.
The crypto industry believes that the Wyden-Lummis-Toomey amendment adequately clarifies what a broker is.
In contrast, the Warner-Portman-Sinema crypto amendment only exempts
proof-of-work mining, causing more concerns that the government is now
picking winners and losers in innovation. Nonetheless, this amendment
has gained support from the White House.
The initial crypto tax plan was crafted by Senator Portman with the
help of Treasury Department officials. It is expected to raise
approximately $28 billion over 10 years from crypto transactions to help fund the infrastructure package.
Treasury Secretary Yellen has expressed her concerns several times about cryptocurrencies being used in illicit financing. She warned
in February: “To the extent it is used, I fear it’s often for illicit
finance. It’s an extremely inefficient way of conducting transactions,
and the amount of energy that’s consumed in processing those
transactions is staggering.”
source link : https://news.bitcoin.com/treasury-secretary-yellen-privately-lobbies-against-tax-amendment-crypto-industry-wants/
