Indian MP Calls for a 50% Crypto Tax: A Sucker Punch for Investors

Vignesh Karunanidhi
Indian MP Calls for a 50% Crypto Tax: A Sucker Punch for Investors
Source: Euronews

The Indian government is not new to showing negligence towards upcoming technologies and development; the example of crypto speaks for it. India has failed to show its support for crypto and its underlying technology from the very beginning.

A senior MP of the ruling party Sushil Kumar said that India should consider taxing cryptocurrency gains by as much as 50%.

A blow to the face of Indian investors

Instead, not encourage than discourage; that’s what the Indian crypto investors have felt ever since the news about the 30% tax on crypto spread like wildfire.

He said in an exclusive interview with Forkast that the country needs to discourage investors from investing in crypto and other digital assets.

He added that the country should look into taxing crypto gains by up to 50%. This tax, if taken into consideration, will be a straight-up loot.

The decisions that will slowly kill the crypto industry

The senior MP was one of the panel members who had suggested the 30% tax on crypto gains which came into effect from April 1.

“Nobody knows what this crypto is,” the MP said. “That’s why we need to discourage and disincentivize” trading and investing in the asset class, he added to his conversation.

To be precise, the panel that is deciding the fate of crypto in India doesn’t have a clear-cut idea. They are ambiguous about whether to ban or regulate it, whether crypto is an asset? A commodity? stock? Or goods and services.

He said that all these things must be considered before finalizing the framework.

Effective from April 1, India started Ievying a hefty 30% tax on crypto and a 1% tax deducted at source. There is no option to offset losses with gains.

The heavy imposition of taxes and tighter rules will soon push Indian investors and startups to flee the country. When the entire world is seeking global crypto adoption, India’s dubious decision will put the country behind.

There is nothing much left to say for a nation that doesn’t understand the true technology and considers crypto as gambling. “The government wants to make life hell for those people who are investing in cryptos,” said Modi. “That is the bottom line. That is the main thrust of the entire tax.”