Japanese politician proposes relaxing crypto laws to boost adoption

Japanese lawmaker Takeshi Fujimaki has proposed four crypto tax-reforms “to promote the wider [spread] of virtual currency into society."  The opposition-party politician, who has been a vocal advocate for reforms in the space, recommended putting crypto laws closer in line with taxes on stocks and mutual funds. He proposes:

1. Taxing gains from crypto investments at 20% rather than the maximum of 55%;
2. Allowing past crypto-losses to be deducted from profits in subsequent years;
3. Making profits from trading between two virtual tokens tax exempt (ie. when trading bitcoin into XRP);
4. Making all payments made in crypto (for instance, at a cafe) exempt from sales-tax.

Fujimaki said he hoped the reforms would make filing taxes on crypto less "cumbersome" and would "increase the volume of transactions between virtual currencies and [] revitalize the virtual currency market." He is not alone, with Japan's Tax Commision also exploring ways to ensure crypto gains are more accurately reported. (Source: CoinDesk)