60,000 Indians Petition Government to Lower Crypto Tax to Avoid 'Devastating Impact'

Many Indians have signed a petition for the government to introduce reasonable crypto tax policies. This week, India’s finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, proposed taxing crypto income at 30%.

Indians Sign Petition Urging Government to Rethink Crypto Tax Proposal

A petition has been initiated on Change.org for the government of India to “introduce reasonable crypto tax policies.”

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said during her Budget 2022-23 speech earlier this week that crypto income shall be taxed at 30% and no deduction, except the cost of acquisition, will be allowed.

Aditya Singh, who runs the Youtube channel “Crypto India,” started the petition which calls on India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to make changes to the tax proposal. At the time of writing, more than 58,000 people have signed the petition.

The petition begins by noting that there are about 15-20 million crypto investors in India as well as several hundred thousand young Indians who are part of the industry. In addition, Indian investors are holding about $6 billion in crypto assets. The petition adds:

Crypto Industry also contributes significantly to the country in the form of providing employment, bringing in FDI Investments, GST payments, and Income tax revenues to the government.

The first request is for the crypto industry not to be treated like the betting and gambling industries. The second is to bring the current proposed tax rate of 30% in line with the tax rate applicable to stock market transactions.

Furthermore, the proposed 1% tax deducted at source (TDS) should be reduced to 0.05% and “Loss set-off and carry-forward should be allowed since crypto markets are in their initial stages and are highly volatile.” The cost of acquisition should also be defined “to include exchange fees, blockchain network fees, interest payments, royalty payments on NFTs, etc.”

The petition concludes:

We urge you to kindly consider these requests from the industry. Since the proposals in their current form have a devastating impact not only on crypto traders but crypto industry as a whole.