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Comment by scotty79 | Hacker News Reader

If a country gives you zero practical assurances when it comes to protecting your crypto assets, what is the tax for?

For making profit or gains.

The state doesn't give you protection on you buying shares either.

And if someone would steal your bitcoin, shares or whatever, the state would allow you to use the legal system to get it back. Its your issue if you use something which is inherant intransparent, partially anonmous and globally unregulated.

The tax is there to pay streets, kindergarden, schools, etc. btw.

> The state doesn't give you protection on you buying shares either.

Of course it does. If somebody takes my money but doesn't give me shares they are going to jail. If you try that with crypto the police will laugh you off.

No they wont.

They probably struggle helping you but thats a problem of crypto not of the police.

But hey crypto is 100% save right? You don't need help with crypto anyway. It solved all trust issues right? right?

Sam Bankman-Fried tried it, and now he's rotting in jail wishing the police had laughed off his victims.

That's completely unrelated to taxes. The government does not give any assurance that any given company won't be totally worthless next year but they still have to pay taxes. Taxes aren't some type of insurance lol

The tax is for everything the state does. Your capital gains taxes aren't just a fee to the government in exchange for protecting your crypto, and it's weird to assume that they are.

Of course they aren't. Country takes taxes because it can. And takes it wherever it can. Pretexts don't matter. But I can't blame people who have expectation of fairness to rebel when the government doesn't even bother to provide a plausible pretext.

> zero practical assurances when it comes to protecting your crypto assets

What would that look like?

If a crypto market fails with my money I'd like to be reimbursed. Like when the MtGox failed and Japan did a full bankruptcy process and reimbursed creditor to their best ability. I don't mind paying tax on my trades to Japan whatever it might be.

But paying a country I accidentally live in, just because I was lucky enough to get some gains that this country contributed nothing to, not even a legal framework, feels patently unfair.

I don't really understand the position you are presenting, but the idea of being reimbursed for money invested in an unsecured asset - forget about the wild volatility of crypto - seems very naive. A few things:

* a country may step in to prop up failing markets or even companies, but they do this outside of a bankruptcy process, and rarely (never?) directly.

* an owner of an unsecured asset like crypto would one of the last in line when processing the bankruptcy (funny enough, the tax obligation of the company would be right near the top)

* you don't pay tax on your trades, but based on the outcome at the time of the trade.

* most countries tax individuals based on residency, and I think there's a good argument that you do get benefits both the physical and societal. You can decide if it's "worth it" but I'm not sure how it's "accidental". It's definitely true that the linkage between paying capital gains taxes and driving down a newly paved road is long and complex.

So don't live there. Move someplace that doesn't tax capital gains. If you're unable to do that then you're admitting that your country of residence has helped you in making those gains.

Every country taxes their residents' income one way or another.

So you want the equivalent of FDIC insurance on cash deposits for all stocks and crypto?

When the trump or melania crypto coin eventually bust, should the US bail out holders? Can we get that for housing too? Make every asset completely risk-free?

The tax is protection money so that you don't get beaten and put in a cage. Do you know how statism works?

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