What’s in a name? A currency by any other name would sound just as sweet. Sans a hefty 30 per cent to Caesar, it should. Semantics is what Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman took refuge in over the confusion within the government on what to do with cryptocurrencies. Consultations are on over re-drafting the Cryptocurrency Bill, which originally sought a blanket ban. Hence, the next best thing—keep a straight face and refuse to call it ‘cryptocurrency’, even while you impose a tax on it.
“Loosely what we refer to as crypto is not currency…[only] what Reserve Bank will issue will be digital currency—anything that prevails outside is not currency [but] assets. Nothing stops me from taxing it,” Sitharaman said about her budget proposal to impose a 30 per cent tax on ‘virtual digital assets’.
Ironically, that may well be one of the clearest intentions the finance minister expressed in her fourth budget outing. Most of the rest ride high on a wing and a prayer of earnest optimism of massive government spending on highways, railways and other infra projects leading to a domino effect of increased money flow through the system generating jobs, which making people spend more, which making the private sector invest more, which leading to economic growth…. you get the drift.
This story is from the February 13, 2022 edition of THE WEEK.
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This story is from the February 13, 2022 edition of THE WEEK.
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