Taro Aso, the Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance for Japan, has concerns over cryptocurrency taxes in his country but believes it to be doubtful that the public would accept any changes made to the cryptocurrency taxation law.
During today’s Upper House Budget Committee meeting, Senator Fujimaki asked Japan’s Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso whether crypto transactions should be taxed via a “separate settlement taxation,” rather than their present classification as “miscellaneous income.” Aso said the prospect was “doubtful” and expressed concern over the public’s reaction due to “tax fairness.” He said,
“The profits gained by virtual currency transactions should be changed from current ‘miscellaneous income’ to ‘declaration separate taxation.”
During the same meeting, He also spoke of the importance of the development of blockchain technology but added that supporting the technology can be controversial, given that it underlies cryptocurrencies.
Japan’s national tax authority currently levies anywhere between 15 percent to a staggering 55 percent in taxes for cryptocurrency investors. Individuals with annual earnings above 40 million yen ($365,000) see the highest tax slab.
While Japan isn’t alone in introducing capital gains taxes among major economies, those heightened rates have seen some investors move to jurisdictions like Singapore for tax relief.
Japan is considered a crypto-positive nation but its government has become stricter on cryptocurrencies especially since the infamous hack of Japan’s crypto exchange Coincheck back in January of this year.
Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) has been active last week, issuing business improvement notices to crypto exchanges as part of their ongoing regulatory inspections following the Coincheck hack.
Read More: Japan’s FSA Slaps 6 Crypto Exchanges With ‘Business Improvement Orders
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