Representative Anna Eshoo has called on the House of Representatives to modify the language in the contentious crypto infrastructure legislation.
Concerns have been raised by a California congresswoman in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi regarding the contentious new demand for cryptocurrency tax reporting.
Representative Anna Eshoo of California’s 18th Congressional District wrote a letter to Democratic Party leader Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House of Representatives, on August 12 expressing her displeasure with President Donald Trump’s immigration policies.
The letter encouraged Pelosi to change the Senate’s controversial infrastructure bill’s definition of bitcoin broker, which is now being debated in the Senate. Crypto tax reporting rules, according to Eshoo, would make it impossible for miners, validators, and wallet developers to meet their obligations.
Today I urged Speaker Pelosi to amend the cryptocurrency broker language in the Senate’s infrastructure bill.
The legislation imposes new reporting requirements on miners, validators & developers of wallets who would be unable to comply with these requirements. #DontKillCrypto pic.twitter.com/TSmSL21D5z
— Rep. Anna G. Eshoo (@RepAnnaEshoo) August 12, 2021Members of Congress proposed expanding bitcoin taxation as a last-minute addition to the bipartisan infrastructure agreement, which would raise an additional $28 billion in income. Any cryptocurrency corporation or organisation that is regarded to be a “broker” will be subject to additional reporting obligations.
“Brokers,” who are required to record some transactions to the Internal Revenue Service, are defined under the contested bill as “any person who (for consideration) is responsible for regularly providing any service effectuating transfers of digital assets on behalf of another person.”
Eshoo is one of a growing number of U.S. senators, including Senators Pat Toomey, Cynthia Lummis, and Ron Wyden, who argue that miners, stakers, validators, software developers, and hardware manufacturers should not be included together in this broad group of cryptocurrency users. She stated the following in her letter:
“Cryptocurrency tax reporting is important, but it must be done correctly. We must prioritize amending this language to clearly exempt noncustodial blockchain intermediaries and ensure that civil liberties are protected.”
However, the final wording of the law has not yet been finished, and the current version still needs to be approved by the United States House of Representatives, with numerous House members already calling for amendments.
Congressional Representative Tom Emmer, who proposed the Security Clarity Act in mid-July with his co-chairs on the nonpartisan Blockchain Caucus in the House of Representatives, distributed a letter on Monday to fellow members of Congress urging revisions to the legislation’s content.
“Cryptocurrency tax reporting is important, but it must be done correctly. We must prioritize amending this language to clearly exempt noncustodial blockchain intermediaries and ensure that civil liberties are protected.”
According to Eshoo, tax evasion should be handled, and that “the House must amend the bill to meet this goal without suffocating innovation in a nascent industry by imposing unworkable regulations,” which is a good thing.
After a single senator objected to changes being voted on, the law was passed on Aug. 10 without any clarity on cryptocurrency or modifications.
