| Oh my goodness. Here is Portman himself in his own words: “The Treasury Department, the nonpartisan Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation and others believe that the current language is clear and that the reporting requirements only covers brokers, but my view is that we should work to clarify this given the potential for confusion on an extremely important issue. In particular, we want to be sure miners and stakers and others now or in the future who play a key role by validating transactions, or sellers of hardware or software for digital wallets, or node operators, or others who are not brokers are clearly exempted.” Video: https://youtu.be/p0auPbbDQnY AND YET the Warner-Portman-Sinema (note the Portman in there!) amendment doesn’t specifically exclude stakers or validators who may now or in the future secure the networks, and certainly not the catch-all “others who are not brokers”? Only exempts proof-of-work miners? Yet he claims it was already “clearly exempted” in the proposed bill at the time of his speech and the amendment was supposed to clarify that?? I wonder if the Senator’s own words on the floor, and assurances that the Treasury and others hold the same view, could be used in court cases to clarify the meaning of “broker” later on, in favor of the defendants (Ethereum proof of stake miners, say) when they will invariably be served papers and prosecuted for not reporting. Seriously, how can you say one thing and do another so blatantly? This is worse than “if you like your plan you can keep it”. Will the Treasury and others likewise say one thing in private (as he reports) and quickly flip when it comes to making examples out of non-reporting POS miners? |