In the agreement between President Joe Biden and Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to increase the US debt, one part is noticeably missing – a tax on cryptocurrency mining.
According to CNN over the weekend Biden and McCarthy struck a deal to raise the debt with a plan to get Congress this week.
On Friday, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned McCarthy that if Congress did not raise or suspend the debt limit by June 5, in treasury there will be “insufficient resources to meet the government’s obligations.”
Republican Rep. Warren Davidson shared the 99-page bill, which still needs congressional approval, on Twitter late Sunday night.
Pierre Rocher, vice president of research at Riot Platforms, Inc., a bitcoin mining company, asked Davidson if the Biden administration’s excise tax on Digital Asset Mining Energy, or DAME, had been repealed because it was not in the bill.
Davidson confirmed that it had been removed.
“Yes, one of the victories is blocking proposed taxes,” Davidson said in response to Rochard.
Tax information
The tax was proposed in the administration’s budget for the 2024 fiscal year March .
Under the proposal, firms would face a 30 percent tax on the cost of electricity used.
According to previous reports the tax will be introduced next year and phased in over three years at a rate of 10 percent per year, before reaching a target rate of 30 percent by the end of 2026.
Last week, Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., accused the Biden administration of picking “winners and losers.”
“I will not allow President Biden to end the digital asset industry,” Lummis tweeted.
Lummis first rejected the tax proposal last week on Bitcoin Conference 2023 in Miami
She told the crowd about the tax, “It’s not going to happen.”
