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Comment by darawk | Hacker News Reader

There's a big difference between complaining about the tax level, or even the tax distribution, and what's going on here, which is completely insane. Paying taxes on a net loss is an absolutely crazy structure that no sane government should be imposing. It's so insane i'm skeptical it's even true, but if it is, he's absolutely right to be upset about it.

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Your ethical argument is a bit weak. If society sees Bitcoin as a bad thing then there's no reason why they shouldn't slap a huge tax on any gross transaction, be it 34% or 340%. There are many ways to view cryptocurrencies in a bad light. It is a scheme that some claim seeks to subvert the fiat money systems that are controlled by these national tax authorities, so you can see why they would be upset. It is also, to a large extent, just gambling. Finally, it is a money system mainly used by organized criminals to launder money. In short there is no ethical argument against taxing it, any more than there is against US tax code for gambling (you cannot deduct a net gambling loss against your other income in USA).

> Finally, it is a money system mainly used by organized criminals to launder money.

Citation needed.

Sure, but the claim isn't that this is a Bitcoin tax. The claim is that it's a tax on all capital gains. Which is unbelievably stupid.

Why is it insane? Its like winning the power ball and then blowing it all on scratchers. You owe taxes on the win but can't necessarily deduct the losses.

Which, tbh, seems perfectly fine to me.

As someone else pointed out upthread, gambling losses are tax deductible to the extent of your winnings: https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tips/jobs-and-career/can-you...

In the US. Not in Finland.

A better analogy might be blackjack. Let's say you are playing blackjack for an hour, and at the end of that hour, you're up $1,000. But you decide to play for another hour, and now you're down $1,000. You think you should still have to pay tax on the transient $1,000 win?

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