The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden is considering imposing a tax on cryptocurrency miners that could be equal to 30% of a mining company’s energy costs.
The White House’s Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) has posted a blog online that argues in favour of a tax to be imposed on crypto miners for the “harms they impose on society” and the environment.
The administration’s blog post calls the proposed tax the “Digital Asset Mining Energy Tax” and says that: “Currently, crypto mining firms do not have to pay for the full cost they impose on others in the form of local environmental pollution, higher energy prices, and the impacts of increased greenhouse gas emissions on the climate.”
The CEA adds that crypto miners should be taxed because they “…do not generate the local and national economic benefits typically associated with businesses using similar amounts of electricity.”
The proposed tax could raise up to $3.5 billion U.S. in revenue for the U.S. government over the next 10 years, argues the blog post.
Some of the largest U.S. cryptocurrency miners include companies such as Riot Platforms (RIOT), Marathon Digital (MARA), and Greenidge Generation (GREE).
The Council of Economic Advisors published a report in March of this year outlining its concerns with the crypto mining industry, which includes pollution and the cost to local communities.
Republican lawmakers in Congress have resisted efforts by the Biden administration to penalize the cryptocurrency sector, and it is not clear if the Republican-controlled House of Representatives would pass tax legislation put forward by the White House.
