Opposition against the slated crypto tax has been growing amongst netizens demanding a reconsideration. Petitions have been started on Twitter urging the govt to reconsider and reduce crypto tax. According to Twitterati’s the new crypto rules are too harsh and the entire industry will be hurt.
#Reduce CryptoTax has been trending on Twitter since today morning. This trend began after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Tuesday, tabling the Union Budget announced the Indian government’s plan to introduce a 30% crypto tax. Significantly, Sitharaman also pointed out that any losses stemming from digital assets cannot be used to offset other income sources. The 30% tax rule coincided with India announcing its plans to introduce a digital rupee starting 2022-23. To capture details of all such crypto transactions, she also proposed a 1% tax deduction at source on payments made related to purchasing of virtual assets.
The proposal comes at a time when the purchase of cryptocurrencies and NFTs are quickly making inroads in India despite regulatory uncertainty in the nation. The growing adoption of crypto tokens has also led to the emergence of a group of start-ups looking to innovate and grow.
The rage amongst the crowd grew after, Finance Secretary T.V Somanathan on Wednesday said that crypto would be treated like gambling transactions. “We have now put in a taxation framework that treats crypto assets the same way we treat winnings from horse races, or from bets and other speculative transactions.”