Taxes on Bitcoins: Unreasonable or essential?

[dimastegar]

In our country Indonesia. People who hold Bitcoin are not taxed. Although the purchase of goods with Bitcoin is still prohibited. We are free to hold Bitcoin at any value without being taxed. And wouldn't it be funny if states asked for taxes on assets they didn't own. At least we are lucky with the rules in our country that make it easier to hold crypto.

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[nasipadang]

20% 30% is property tax or what tax? there are many types of taxes that exist on the government. Even though 20% alone is excessive, especially since the right to tax has no information for what it is, taxes are related to rights and obligations in my opinion. So if you follow the concept of rights and obligations, the government is obliged to provide facilities for cryptocurrency users, if not, then there is the right to sue the government about the tax. I don't want to talk about a lot of political stuff on this board.

[Sapphire915]

In order for Bitcoin to be globally adopted governments should gain revenue for example tax it is necessary for a country to function that helps the people with their programs and to build roads or buildings etc. That can be beneficial for its citizens.
So i agree that Bitcoin should be taxable and it is pseudo-anonymous which is traceable in every transaction that identifies the sender and receiver.

I absolutely agree. Imposing tax on bitcoin is highly beneficial for every country that legalized its usage. This could extremely help the people, especially in health services and other programs that will aid the needy. It could also help to lift up the country's economy. So, for me, its essential.

[roadrunnerjaiv2025]

On one hand, we can view taxing as the first step in the government's plan to take over the crypto world. This may sound too radical but it could be the truth. After all, control is the government's greatest obsession and their greatest fear is, guess what---losing control. It's quite obvious that they're using tax to push crypto users to the wall until we surrender the freedom that makes cryptocurrency unique. When that happens, cryptocurrency will become just a virtual version of fiat money, totally stripped of its decentralizing power. It will have failed Satoshi's intended purpose for it. This will go on until we become completely free from the need to exchange cryptocurrency for fiat money.

On the other hand, we can also view this as an opportunity to educate the government about bitcoin (or the cryptocurrency as a whole)--now that they're paying attention--and how it can benefit the global economy. I think the fear of embracing cryptocurrency emanates mainly from a lack of understanding of it. I saw a recent YouTube video of Warren Buffet blatantly claiming that bitcoin "has no value", and yet eventually ending his statement with "something that I'm not familiar with". In other words, he doesn't know anything about bitcoin. All he knows is that this virtual and therefore can be assumed to lack value.      

[alani123]

It should be noted that absence of regulation doesn't mean that there won't be any taxation.
Absence of specific law only leaves things up to interpretation and a decision on a court could have chilling effects on those that had past profits from cryptocurrency even.
The countries where regulators have made it clear as day that there won't be any taxation are obviously far better off, but sadly not many such cases exist globally.

[mirakal]

It should be noted that absence of regulation doesn't mean that there won't be any taxation.
Absence of specific law only leaves things up to interpretation and a decision on a court could have chilling effects on those that had past profits from cryptocurrency even.
The countries where regulators have made it clear as day that there won't be any taxation are obviously far better off, but sadly not many such cases exist globally.

yes there was none because in general, we all have to pay whenever we get an income, but we could be blind on this one and we just continue to earn without paying since there's no regulation yet, and I don't think the government would go after everyone of us because we are not paying taxes when it's their fault for not making a law that we can follow.

[qwertyup23]

The power to tax is the power to destroy

As famously quoted by Justice Marshall, the taxing power can either be a boon or a bane if the power is unreasonably exercised by the government. When we apply this to bitcoins, the taxing power seems to imply that there is regulation behind it. If cryptocurrencies were to be taxed, then the government would have the power to at least regulate or control its price on the market.
I personally see a big disadvantage once the government taxes cryptocurrencies as this will aim to regulate its price on the market. With regulation comes potential manipulation and control.

[ghost424]

Taxes on Cryptocurrency really sounds unreasonable since its all on the Internet. As long as you have access with the Internet, you can access all kinds of Cryptocurrency and that is why Cryptocurrency is useful. Its also not reasonable that you have to pay tax when you will use the Internet, that just depends on how can you access the Internet since you are already paying for the Service providers to give you access and they do not care how would you use it.

[TopExchanger]

Bitcoin taxation is essential and inevitable part of its adoption.

[Vatimins]

     Well, what can I say? Greed is everything in this world. When it comes to greed, most of the people in this world would go to extreme lengths to satisfy themselves. Even at the expense of others. As long as they get to satisfy their own greed, they don't care about anything else. And which place can you find the greediest of the greediest? Of course, the government. If tax is present in a country when it comes to bitcoins, then nothing else to do but to live with it no matter how unreasonable it may be. Small people like us are just powerless against governments.

[goldade]

If the government places taxes on bitcoin then it means they would be admitting that bitcoin is legal and is here to stay. If they would not admit this, then it is unreasonable to place taxes on what they deemed illegal.
However, if the government did want to place taxes on bitcoin, there are a lot of questions to answer.
Are the taxes based on the wallet or the coins in the wallet?
Is it only bitcoin that will be taxed? What of altcoins? There are several coins that I can convert my bitcoin into to avoid been taxed?

At this stage, until proper measures are put into place, it is unreasonable to place taxes on bitcoin

[Daniel91]

I think this is what we are trying to move away from. Taxing cryptocurrency by the government is doing what they do best - make people poor.

It's not quite as simple as it seems.
Taxes also serve to cover the health services of the poor, for pensions,  social services etc.
Is it ok to be exempt from paying tax on crypto earnings  and use all these services for free  (at least in Europe )?
I think that Croatian government solved this issue very well.
We pay taxes on crypto earnings only if we exchange our crypto funds to fiat 
Tax is only 12 %.

[DatKing]

I think taking taxes for Bitcoin usage is not reasonable at all. Because it isn't like fiat money whose control is on the government. But I understand that regardless of Bitcoin being decentralized, governments would like to lay a tax on Bitcoin. However, 20-30% isn't fair. It should be as much as at a reasonable level.

[kotajikikox]

Indeed, the government is thriving because of its resources and the tax being generated from its people. But I do not agree unto the taxation of Bitcoin, as it is not a property of the government. Unless it was converted into flat, then they have the power to ask tax then.

How can they tax Bitcoin if wasn't converted into Fiat?i think the Money gram or other remittance company that the government required taxes.
or those who is in Mining that had been taxed high for buying their rigs?
anyway for me this is reasonable because everything that can generate us Income must be taxed and no one must free from this.

[peter0425]

I think this is what we are trying to move away from. Taxing cryptocurrency by the government is doing what they do best - make people poor.

It's not quite as simple as it seems.
Taxes also serve to cover the health services of the poor, for pensions,  social services etc.
Is it ok to be exempt from paying tax on crypto earnings  and use all these services for free  (at least in Europe )?
I think that Croatian government solved this issue very well.
We pay taxes on crypto earnings only if we exchange our crypto funds to fiat 
Tax is only 12 %.

I really don't understand why people are denying to be taxed when they are profiting?and yeah you are correct mate that taxes goes to not only the poor people but also those in the middle or even riches since they are using government facilities in which produced from the taxes.
at first i don't like being taxed but when i come to work in government?then i understand everything.

[Natalim]

I think this is what we are trying to move away from. Taxing cryptocurrency by the government is doing what they do best - make people poor.

It's not quite as simple as it seems.
Taxes also serve to cover the health services of the poor, for pensions,  social services etc.
Is it ok to be exempt from paying tax on crypto earnings  and use all these services for free  (at least in Europe )?
I think that Croatian government solved this issue very well.
We pay taxes on crypto earnings only if we exchange our crypto funds to fiat 
Tax is only 12 %.

I really don't understand why people are denying to be taxed when they are profiting?and yeah you are correct mate that taxes goes to not only the poor people but also those in the middle or even riches since they are using government facilities in which produced from the taxes.
at first i don't like being taxed but when i come to work in government?then i understand everything.

No, tax is our responsibility, so whether we like it or not, we have to pay taxes as we will be held legally liable if we evade taxes.

Regardless on how our government will spend the taxes, we should do our responsibility. I know there are corrupt countries where government officials and employees just steal our taxes, we hate that but it's not the reason for us to be exempt ourselves from not paying taxes, we are just unfortunate we belong to a corrupt country.

[ILuckyGuyI]

I think tax can be applied for Bitcoin as long as its rate is not too high. I know that Bitcoin is decentralized and no government has the control of it. But if people want to use Bitcoin, most of the countries would like to apply tax for its usage. There are countries that don't apply taxes and I hope the number of countries like that will increase. In the end, I would prefer not paying tax than the opposite for a decentralized currency.

[Argoo]

I think taking taxes for Bitcoin usage is not reasonable at all. Because it isn't like fiat money whose control is on the government. But I understand that regardless of Bitcoin being decentralized, governments would like to lay a tax on Bitcoin. However, 20-30% isn't fair. It should be as much as at a reasonable level.

The government of any state can and has the right to establish a tax on any activity of a citizen of this state that brings profit. At the same time, it is not at all necessary for the state to somehow help people to earn this profit. Therefore, it will be quite normal if the state sets a reasonable percentage of tax on profits from cryptocurrency. It is advisable for us to pay this tax, since the government can take its own measures up to prohibiting the circulation of cryptocurrency on its territory. This will not completely lead to the disappearance of the cryptocurrency in this state, however, this ban will cause serious trouble for the owners of the cryptocurrency.

[bitbollo]

In Italy there is a form of taxation for people that hold bitcoin. But they should have an economic surplus of at least 50k euro. Over 50k they should pay some taxes like any other gains (like stocks bonds etc).
I have followed some of these discussions made by these politicians. They are totally unaware of what they are doing since they are not taxing other crypto, or they have not a system that can collect taxes from people that exchange money in foreign countries.
moreover if I don't declare my coins (not taken from an exchange with KYC) I am definitely not allowed to declare anything...

My opinion? I am not agree with bitcoin taxation since it sound like an oxymoron.
Ok take taxes from big groups (likewise exchange or people that work/earn with crypto after a certain limit) but just a small percentage of their revenue, and not a sort of flat (heavy!) tax of what they are going to earn.
I don't have to pay taxes if I take my money in FIAT currency. Why I should pay if I exchange in bitcoin?

[semobo]

Taxes on our income are more essential to fuel our economy in the development path, but we are already paying taxes to everything but still those are not used in the most effective ways which made the people to think taxes on cryptos are inappropriate.But we can't do anything on the tax implementation but it should be a fair value of people really want to report their earnings or else every earnings will go into black money.