David Sacks pushes back against idea of crypto transaction tax

White House crypto and AI czar David Sacks rejected the idea of taxes on each cryptocurrency transaction as a method of filling the US strategic Bitcoin (BTC) reserve and the crypto stockpile with digital assets.

During a recent appearance on the All In podcast, host Jason Calacanis proposed charging a 0.01% tax on every cryptocurrency transaction, which would be denominated in the asset that is transferred, bought, or sold. Sacks responded:

“That’s always how taxes start. They are described as being very modest. You know, when the income tax started, it only applied to like a thousand Americans, and the legislators swore up and down that it would never be applied to middle-class people.”

“So, I don’t particularly like the idea of new taxes, even if it is promised that they won’t affect people very much. That sounds burdensome to me,” Sacks continued.

Crypto investors were highly critical of the idea, which would also tax transfers of assets between wallets owned by the same person.

The recent White House Crypto Summit made no mention of concrete tax policies. However, the Trump administration has signaled its support for sweeping tax reform at the federal level.

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President Trump proposes eliminating income tax and Internal Revenue Service

President Donald Trump previously proposed eliminating the federal income tax and replacing the income tax revenue with tariffs on imported goods.

Trump said the United States federal government was funded exclusively by tariffs in the 19th century and argued that it was a time of almost unparalleled prosperity for the country.

Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary of the US, reiterated the proposal and said that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) would be replaced by an “External Revenue Service.”

According to research from accounting automation company Dancing Numbers, the Trump administration’s plan to replace revenues from federal income taxes could save each American taxpayer at least $134,809.

The company added that the lifetime savings could be extended to as much as $325,561 per person if state-income taxes are also repealed.

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