Spain’s Governing Partner Pushes 47% Crypto Tax Hike
Spain’s Sumar parliamentary group has introduced amendments to reclassify cryptocurrency profits as “general income,” a move that would hike the top marginal tax rate from 28% to 47%.
The proposal, reported by CriptoNoticias, targets the General Tax Law to strip digital assets of their “savings income” status. If passed, the measure would nearly double the tax burden for high-volume traders and impose a flat 30% rate on corporate crypto holdings.
Bitcoin traded sideways on the news. Read: $89,900 at press time.
The Fine Print: Seizures and “Traffic Lights”
Beyond the rate hike, the amendment grants tax authorities the power to seize all crypto assets to settle debts—a provision legal experts claim is technically impossible for self-custodied funds. The bill also mandates a “risk traffic light” system, forcing platforms to display hazard warnings on digital assets.
The reaction was immediate and venomous.
“If this is approved, it’s going to cause absolute chaos in the entire crypto tax regime in Spain,” lawyer Cris Carrascosa posted on X, calling the seizure clause “unenforceable.”
Economist José Antonio Bravo Mateu went further, labeling the move a “useless attack against Bitcoin.”
“The only thing these measures achieve is to make holders residing in Spain think about fleeing when BTC rises so high that they no longer care what politicians say.”
Context: The Taxman’s crusade
This proposal escalates an already hostile environment. In August, Spanish authorities hit a trader with a €9 million tax bill for a DeFi collateral deposit that generated zero profit, classifying the technical transfer as a capital gain.
While Japan moves to slash crypto taxes to a flat 20% to attract capital, Spain appears intent on driving it away. The amendments must still pass a parliamentary vote to become law.
