Republican Senators Call on Treasury To Ease Crypto Tax Laws To ‘Level Playing Field’ With Foreign Companies

Pro-crypto Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming is pressing the US Treasury to ease crypto tax laws as a means of evening out the playing field with foreign companies. In a new thread on the social media platform X, Lummis says that the US’s competitive advantage in digital finance is at risk due to US companies being taxed more than their foreign counterparts, a loophole she and Republican Senator Bernie Moreno of Ohio are trying to close. “Our edge in digital finance is at risk if U.S. companies are taxed more than foreign competitors. [Representative Bernie Moreno] and I urged the US Treasury to lift an unintended tax burden on U.S. digital asset companies. To lead the world in digital assets, we need a level playing field.” In their letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Lummis and Moreno say that when the Biden Administration signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law, they created a new tax known as the corporate alternative minimum tax (CAMT), which imposed a 15% tax burden on certain companies, creating a disadvantage for US firms. “Corporations that own enough appreciated digital assets to be subject to CAMT must now pay taxes on unrealized gains in the value of those digital assets... Neither Congress nor the Financial Account Standards Board (FASB) planned this outcome – it is the unintended result of a tax liability on decisions by a private organization that is focused on financial statement accounting standards, not principles of taxation.” According to Lummis, the Treasury should use its power to change the law by either changing the tax burden owed or by excluding unrealized gains from the formula, because, as things stand now, corporations may be discouraged from holding large amounts of crypto assets.