Common Sense Recommendations for the Application of Tax Law to Digital Assets:
In response to the Joint Committee on Taxation’s July 2023 request for comments on application of various Internal Revenue Code sections on digital assets, we propose a consistent set of rules to apply current law to digital assets. We highlight that the underlying economics and characteristics of transactions should be the primary concern for the application of rules and the valuation of digital assets. We believe any digital asset rules should (1) treat classes of digital assets with unique characteristics differently based on their economics, (2) minimize incentives for users to engage in tax-motivated structuring of transactions, and (3) allow the Internal Revenue Service authority to react to and regulate new classes of digital assets as they are created.
We do not believe that the unique features of digital assets are a challenge to applying current law or warrant special tax preferred treatment.
List of Signatories:
- Linda M. Beale (Wayne State)
- Jeremy Bearer-Friend (George Washington; Google Scholar)
- Jennifer Bird-Pollan (Kentucky; Google Scholar)
- Samuel D. Brunson (Loyola-Chicago; Google Scholar)
- Luís Calderón Gómez (Cardozo; Google Scholar)
- Bryan Camp (Texas Tech; Google Scholar)
- Adam Chodorow (Arizona State; Google Scholar)
- Mark Cochran (St. Mary's)
- Lin William Cong (Cornell; Google Scholar)
- Matthew Foreman (Falcon Rappaport & Berkman, New York)
- Phil Gaudiano (Polygon Advisory Group)
- I. Richard Gershon (Mississippi)
- Nathan C. Goldman (North Carolina State; Google Scholar)
- Jillian Grennan (UC-Berkeley; Google Scholar)
- Megan Justice (Crayon Advisory)
- Young Ran (Christine) Kim (Cardozo; Google Scholar)
- Herbert I. Lazerow (San Diego; Google Scholar)
- Tao Li (Florida; Google Scholar)
- Lawrence Lokken (Florida)
- Omri Y. Marian (UC-Irvine; Google Scholar)
- Orly Mazur (SMU; Google Scholar)
- Stephanie Hunter McMahon (Cincinnati)
- Tyler Menzer (Iowa; Google Scholar)
- Matt Metras (MDM Financial Services)
- Ann M. Murphy (Gonzaga)
- Henry Ordower (St. Louis; Google Scholar)
- Amanda Parsons (Colorado; Google Scholar)
- Daniel Rabetti (National University of Singapore; Google Scholar)
- Alex Raskolnikov (Columbia)
- Tracey M. Roberts (Cumberland; Google Scholar)
- Kerry A. Ryan (St. Louis)
- Edward A. Zelinsky (Cardozo)
