The Biden administration has proposed a tax on cryptocurrency miners, aiming to charge them 30% of the cost of the power they consume due to the negative impact it has on the environment and electricity grids.
The tax proposal, named “The DAME Tax: Making Cryptominers Pay for Costs They Impose on Others,” aims to combat the energy consumption tied to the computationally intensive production of crypto assets.
The White House’s Council of Economic Advisers said that crypto miners’ high energy consumption has negative spillovers on the environment, quality of life, and electricity grids.
The administration previously proposed the “Digital Asset Mining Energy excise tax” in March as part of this year’s budget published by the U.S. Treasury Department.
The proposed tax would be phased in over three years, starting at 10%, then 20%, and finally 30%. The Council of Economic Advisers estimates that the excise tax could raise $3.5 billion over ten years.
However, some states, such as Arkansas, Montana, and Texas, have proposed legislation to regulate Bitcoin mining and offer mining firms legal protection.
