Advocates of the crypto industry in Japan demand the revision of the national tax regime for digital assets. Japan Blockchain Association (JBA), a non-governmental lobbying group, filed an official request to the country’s government, highlighting three major steps to ease up the fiscal burden on crypto holders.
The request was published on the Association’s website on July 28. It calls the taxation of crypto-assets the biggest barrier for web3 businesses in Japan, and a factor that prevents citizens from actively owning and using crypto-assets. Thus, the group names three major changes, that could be done to ease the pressure on the digital economy.
The first one is the elimination of year-end unrealized gains taxation on corporations holding crypto assets. Unrealized profit refer to profits that have occurred on paper, but the relevant transactions have not been completed. The JBA seeks to abolish the taxes on unrealized gains in third-party issued tokens. In June, Japan’s National Tax Agency (NTA) has already relieved local firms from taxation of year-end unrealized gains from cryptocurrencies they have issued.
The second request deals with the taxation method for personal crypto asset trading profits. It suggests changing this method from current comprehensive taxation to self-assessment separate taxation, with a uniform tax rate of 20%. Additionally it proposes the three years term for deducting the losses from the digital assets value depreciation.
Thirdly, the JBA seeks the elimination of income tax on the profits generated each time an individual exchanges crypto assets. As the request goes:
“In the borderless web3 era, there is a high possibility that the exchange of crypto-assets will become the mainstream of the economic zone, and due to the wide variety of transactions that occur and the types of crypto-assets that are exchanged, tax calculation will be extremely difficult.”
At the end of July, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida reaffirmed the country’s commitment to fostering the Web3 industry, highlighting its potential to transform the internet and kindle social change. On the same day, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao announced the cryptocurrency exchange would launch its services on a new Japanese platform in August 2023.
JBA has not yet responded to Cointelegraph’s request for comment.
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Canterbury MP Rosie Duffield has resigned from the Labour Party.
The 53-year-old MP is the first to jump ship since the general election and in her resignation letter criticised the prime minister for accepting thousands of pounds worth of gifts.
She told Sir Keir Starmer the reason for leaving now is “the programme of policies you seem determined to stick to”, despite their unpopularity with the electorate and MPs.
In her letter she accused the prime minister and his top team of “sleaze, nepotism and apparent avarice” which are “off the scale”.
“I’m so ashamed of what you and your inner circle have done to tarnish and humiliate our once proud party,” she said.
Since December 2019, the prime minister received £107,145 in gifts, benefits, and hospitality – a specific category in parliament’s register of MPs’ interests.
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Ms Duffield, who has previously clashed with the prime minister on gender issues, attacked the government for pursuing “cruel and unnecessary” policies as she resigned the Labour whip.
She criticised the decision to keep the two-child benefit cap and means-test the winter fuel payment, and accused the prime minister of “hypocrisy” over his acceptance of free gifts from donors.
“Since the change of government in July, the revelations of hypocrisy have been staggering and increasingly outrageous,” she said.
“I cannot put into words how angry I and my colleagues are at your total lack of understanding about how you have made us all appear.”
Ms Duffield also mentioned the recent “treatment of Diane Abbott”, who said she thought she had been barred from standing by Labour ahead of the general election, before Sir Keir said she would be allowed to defend her Hackney North and Stoke Newington seat for the party.
Her relationship with the Labour leadership has long been strained and her decision to quit the party comes after seven other Labour MPs were suspended for rebelling by voting for a motion calling for the two-child benefit cap to be abolished.
“Someone with far-above-average wealth choosing to keep the Conservatives’ two-child limit to benefit payments which entrenches children in poverty, while inexplicably accepting expensive personal gifts of designer suits and glasses costing more than most of those people can grasp – this is entirely undeserving of holding the title of Labour prime minister,” she said.
Ms Duffield said she will continue to represent her constituents as an independent MP, “guided by my core Labour values”.