First in Punchbowl News. One of the crypto industry’s leading trade associations has some notes to share with tax writers.
The Blockchain Association published a policy paper this morning outlining the sector’s priorities for tax policy. This is the industry’s next big legislative priority after its market structure overhaul, which remains on ice. GOP leaders of the tax committees are working on a crypto tax bill right now.
The association and its members will head to the Hill today to meet with a couple dozen congressional offices.
“To get to the peak of where this industry could go, to really see maximum growth, you’ve got to change the tax code,” Blockchain Association CEO Summer Mersinger said.
Get the memo. The top priorities will sound familiar. The Blockchain Association is seeking de minimis exemptions from taxes for low-dollar digital asset transactions. The Blockchain Association also wants to see purchases made using stablecoins treated like cash for tax purposes.
Other priorities include extending wash sale rules to digital assets, allowing for mark-to-market accounting for crypto and granting charitable deductions for crypto donations without requiring appraisals.
The association also wants to see tax writers “explicitly recognize” blockchain development as eligible for research and development tax credits.
Read the full memo here.
Meanwhile, in private equity. Senate Democrats have introduced their own proposal to ban private equity ownership of U.S. housing stock.
The effort, led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), follows the White House’s legislation circulated on the Hill last week to limit the private equity ownership of single-family homes. Conversations about adding that kind of prohibition to the ROAD to Housing Act are ongoing.
But the Democratic approach here is distinct and far broader. For one, much of it is organized around tax policy. The American Homeownership Act would prohibit large financial firms from receiving the tax benefits of depreciation and mortgage interest payments. The bill would also ban those firms from acquiring federally-backed mortgages and foreclosed homes. Read the 29-page bill here.
Warren told reporters she doesn’t expect this bill to necessarily hitch a ride with the ROAD to Housing Act. “I’m happy to move the private equity bill separately,” Warren said.
The ROAD to Housing Act is expected to get a vote on the Senate floor soon. It’s been in the mix for consideration this week, but that’s looking less likely after a snowstorm canceled votes on Monday.
