Crypto Mining Electricity Excise Tax Should Target AI Instead

The Biden administration recently announced plans to include a Digital Asset Mining Energy excise tax on electricity used for crypto mining in the Fiscal Year 2024 budget. The tax, which would be imposed at 30% on the electricity used by devices mining cryptocurrencies, chiefly targets blockchain protocols that make use of proof of work consensus algorithms.

The new tax sounds reasonable on its face. But in reality, it is late, administratively unworkable, and a bad use of political will and attention. If the goal is to offset climate change, there are cheaper, higher-value targets. Two good places to start: Tax ...