Bitcoin (BTC) miners in the United States can breathe a sigh of relief after a proposed tax on crypto mining did not make it into a bill to raise the U.S. debt ceiling that appears set to pass.
The Digital Assets Mining Energy (DAME) excise tax proposal sought to charge crypto miners a tax equal to 10% of the cost of the electricity they used for mining in 2024, before scaling up to 30% in 2026.
The tax was highly controversial, with critics arguing that it had the potential to increase global emissions as a result of miners being forced to go overseas where countries may produce more emissions during energy production.
Additionally, Bitcoin miners seek out cheap energy, and as one of the cheapest sources of energy is excess renewable energy, Bitcoin miners can actually incentivize its production by providing utilities with a buyer for energy that would otherwise be wasted.
The news broke after Bitcoin miner Riot Platforms vice president of research Pierre Rochard noted on May 28 that the proposed bill did not include any mention of the DAME tax, which Representative Warren Davidson replied was “one of the victories” of the bill.
Yes, one of the victories is blocking proposed taxes.
— Warren Davidson (@WarrenDavidson) May 29, 2023
Dead and buried or set to return?
While much of the online discussion around the news suggested the proposal was “dead,” others, such as Coin Metrics co-founder Nic Carter, highlighted that it was only temporarily defeated, alluding to the possibility of it being included in future bills.
Bitcoin mining “DAME” tax defeated (for now)
Biden CEA, specifically Heather Boushey, hold this L https://t.co/hJgZ7oUGub
— nic carter (@nic__carter) May 29, 2023
Carter suggested later in a May 29 Twitter thread that the administration would likely attempt to sneak it into some omnibus bill and would already have done so if it had the political currency to do so.
But bills are required to pass both through Congress and the House, and considering the Republican party is generally opposed to increases in taxes and currently controls the House, it seems unlikely such an omnibus bill would be able to make it to the president’s desk.
While speaking to Chamber of Digital Commerce founder and CEO Perianne Boring during a May 20 fireside chat at the Bitcoin 2023 conference in Miami, Senator Cynthia Lummis assured viewers that the DAME tax “isn’t going to happen.”
Lummis added that ensuring Bitcoin mining firms remain in the U.S. was…
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