The White House is pushing for a 30% climate change tax on cryptocurrency miners through the Digital Asset Mining Energy (DAME) excise tax in the next federal budget. This tax aims to encourage mining companies to take responsibility for their environmental impact, including higher energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions.
Taxing Bitcoin Miners
According to Yahoo News, the president’s Council of Economic Advisors plans to publish a blog post on Tuesday, justifying the excise tax as part of the Administration’s efforts to fight climate change. The CEA stated that crypto mining firms do not currently pay for the full cost they impose on others in terms of pollution and emissions. The tax would be phased in over three years, starting at 10% and rising to 30% in the following two years, generating an estimated $3.5 billion over a decade.
The economic benefits of crypto mining remain uncertain, according to a CEA economist who spoke with Yahoo, while concerns over the industry’s environmental risks and financial stability persist.
Critics of the Tax
Left-wing politicians in many developed countries associate Bitcoin mining with climate change due to its high energy consumption. In April 2022, a group of Democrat politicians, including progressive Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, signed a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency to investigate possible environmental violations by mining firms. In response, Bitcoiners wrote their own letter the following month dispelling misconceptions about the industry. The community is opposed to regulation of the mining industry or changes to Bitcoin’s code.
Critics of the proposed excise tax argue that it unfairly targets certain forms of energy consumption. “This puts a clear line in the sand that they do not like the industry. They are looking for ways to hamstring it,” said Tom Mapes, director of energy policy at the Chamber of Digital Commerce.
