The advent of Bitcoin and blockchain technology has made government taxation obsolete, given how difficult cryptocurrency can be to identify and trace.
1. teamsteverhyner.com http://www.teamsteverhyner.com/cryptocurrency-could-end-taxation/
Steven L.
Rhyner
Cryptocurrency Could End Taxation
The advent of Bitcoin and blockchain technology has made government taxation obsolete, given how difficult
cryptocurrency can be to identify and trace.
Throughout modern history, governments have survived through taxation, or the involuntary acquisition of the
product of their citizens’ labor. The advent of government-controlled money made this process vastly simpler.
However, with the rise of BitcoinCT r: 8 and other cryptocurrencies based on blockchain technology, state power to
tax income is slipping, and may at some point become a thing of the past entirely.
Efficient taxation requires compliance
At its root, taxation is based on compliance of the taxed. Now by no means does that mean that citizens would pay
1/3
2. taxes if they could choose otherwise, but rather that they do so rather than face repercussions.
It would be logistically impossible for a governing body to collect funds from the entire citizenry without any
meaningful compliance from the taxed. As it stands in the United States, the current taxation system is broken and
ineffective.
With the likelihood of an audit very small for the average citizen, many are able to cut corners on reporting income
with very few consequences.
Cryptocurrency can make identifying income extremely difficult
The advent of blockchain technology further complicates tax collection. Cryptocurrency is extremely impractical to
trace.
To begin with, while all Bitcoin transactions are public and viewable by anyone, the ownership or control over wallets
and addresses are not. Simply use different addresses, and financial investigation is effectively obfuscated from a
superficial investigation.
Employ a VPN for extra privacy, and use a coin-mixing service to thoroughly mix up which transactions represent
legitimate economic activity and which were simply diversionary nonsense.
To take it a step further, use alternative cryptocurrencies like Dash (which has its own mixed “darksend” feature) or
Monero (which, among many other features, uses ring signatures to hide legitimate cryptographic signatures
amongst a host of decoys).
For extra fun, use all of the above to weave an intricate puzzle nearly impossible to decipher, and absolutely not
worth the trouble for all but the biggest targets.
Cryptocurrency may
evolve beyond any legal
definitions of currency
Finally, the very definition of income
is fast becoming a moving target. To begin with, a new cryptocurrency can be minted almost instantly, rendering
obsolete and inapplicable all laws that specifically name a particular cryptocurrency.
Even if all cryptocurrency were to be legally classified as taxable income, blockchain-based crypto-tokens could
narrowly escape the definition of currency by semantics, and yet still be a viable form of trade.
If all else fails, determined tax evaders can simply adopt a gifting economy, using a blockchain system to keep track
of who had given what to whom. Which, after all, is all money really is, stripped to its base elements.
A new age is upon us, thanks to technology. Governments, once able to control currency and ensure they were able
to claim a portion of their citizenry’s income as their own, will soon lose this power.
Thanks to cryptocurrency, we may see the end of taxation.
2/3
3. Re-posted from www.cointelegraph.com by Joel Valenzuela April 26, 2014
Want to mine Bitcoin or start your own home based Bitcoin business? Click here or email me: steve@prplus.us.
Share this post and help spread the love!
Thank you for reading my posts! If you would like to connect, reach out to me on
Facebook.
3/3