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Why do you think that?

Just because they treat Bitcoin as a commodity does not mean you can somehow avoid paying taxes on it. Compensation does not have to come in the form of cash to count as income (just look at stock allocations).

Can't the legislature just change these things? There's nothing in the Constitution about Bitcoin.

Yes, but it becomes much harder to do once precedent is set. Interest groups spring up around the current status quo, and it takes a lot of momentum to convince the general population that a change is necessary. If EVERYONE is using Bitcoin and their effective tax rate is 15%, I don't think changing the tax rate to align with income tax rates will go over very well.

you would pay income taxes and reset the basis

Do you know if the classification depends on whether or not Bitcoin is legal tender?

It's not, but then neither is the Scottish £10 note in my pocket -- see my other comment in this thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12165554