Many Indians have signed a petition for the government to introduce reasonable tax policies for cryptocurrencies. This week, India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed taxing cryptocurrency income by 30%.
Indians Sign Petition Calling Government to Reconsider Cryptocurrency Tax Proposal
A petition has been started on Change.org for the Indian government to “introduce reasonable tax policies for cryptocurrencies”.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said during her 2022-23 budget speech earlier this week that crypto income will be taxed at 30% and no deduction will be allowed except for the cost of acquisition.
Aditya Singh, who runs the “Crypto India” YouTube channel, started the petition asking India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to make changes to the tax proposal. To date, more than 58,000 people have signed the petition.
The petition begins by noting that there are between 15 and 20 million cryptocurrency investors in India, as well as several hundred thousand young Indians who are part of the industry. Furthermore, Indian investors hold around $6 billion worth of crypto assets. The petition adds:
The crypto industry also contributes significantly to the country in the form of employment, bringing FDI investments, GST payments and income tax revenue to the government.The petition asks Prime Minister Modi and Finance Minister Sitharaman to consider five requests.
The first request is that the cryptocurrency industry not be treated like the betting and gambling industries. The second is to adjust the current proposed rate of 30% to the rate applicable to equity transactions.
Furthermore, the proposed 1% tax deducted at source (TDS) should be reduced to 0.05% and “compensation and pass-through of losses should be allowed as cryptocurrency markets are in their early and highly volatile stages” . The acquisition cost must also be defined “to include exchange rates, blockchain network fees, interest payments, royalty payments on NFTs, etc.”