Legal
US Sen. Cynthia Lummis is not a fan of President Biden’s proposed 30 percent tax on cryptocurrency miners.
“That isn’t going to happen,” the Wyoming Republican and crypto enthusiast, said on Friday at Bitcoin 2023 Conference in Miami.
There are environmental benefits including “not venting gases into the atmosphere as well as stabilizing grids,” Lummis said.
What’s the tax?
The Biden Administration proposed what is dubbed the Digital Asset Mining Energy excise tax, or DAME, in its budget for fiscal year 2024 in March.
Under that proposal, firms would contend with a tax equal to 30 percent of the cost of the electricity used.
The tax would be implemented next year and phased in gradually over a period of three years at a rate of 10 percent a year to then reach the target 30% rate by the end of 2026, according to previous cryptonews reporting.
Future legislation
Lummis also spoke about her bill with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y. called the Responsible Innovation Act, introduced last year, that takes a comprehensive approach to regulating crypto.
Lummis said at the conference, that the bill will be reintroduced in the next month, with some changes such as adding in more consumer protections.
The bipartisan pair is working with House Financial Services Committee Chair Patrick T. McHenry, R-N.C., and Maxine Waters, D-Calif., on potentially breaking the bill apart into different committees to get it passed, Lummis said.
House Democrats and Republicans in the House Financial Services Committee seemed divided on how to regulate stablecoins during a hearing on Thursday.
Chair McHenry, R-N.C., and former chair of that committee Rep. Waters, worked together on a bill last year, but ahead of a hearing on Thursday, two stablecoin bills had emerged.
“What we’re apt to see is for the House to move a stablecoin bill first, then you’ll probably see the introduction of Lummis Gillibrand in the Senate, which will remain comprehensive,” Lummis said.
Lummis clarified when asked whether she was waiting to introduce her bill until the stablecoin bill is worked through the House.
“We are not,” Lummis said.
