TOPIC – A disjointed response
One of the most striking moves in the Union Budget’s taxation proposals for 2022-23 is the introduction of a taxation regime for virtual digital assets — evolving manifestations of crypto currencies, codes and non-fungible tokens. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has proposed to tax all profits from transactions in such assets at 30% along with the applicable surcharge and cess, and a 1% tax to be deducted by buyers while trading in any virtual digital asset beyond a threshold. While the tax on profits will apply from April 1, 2022, which officials said will not preclude pro- profits already booked before that date from the tax liability, the TDS provisions aimed at creating a transaction trail for the tax authorities, will kick in from July 1. While trading profits will be taxed at, according to crypto industry players, a higher rate compared to other jurisdictions, no deductions will be allowed on account of setting o! Losses from such trading or from any other capital losses. The only deduction permitted would be the cost of acquiring the asset. The term ‘property’ under the I-T Act is being expanded to include virtual digital assets so that such assets received as a gift shall be taxable except when received from relatives. However, the taxation regime by itself, Ms. Sitharaman has emphasized, does not grant legitimacy to the trade in these currently unregulated assets. A consultation process is underway, which will determine the legal position of such assets. This provides some relief for the growing flock of crypto investors. The Government may still not consider them fully legit, yet the tax regime indicates the hard option of an outright ban that was signaled in the nomenclature of a proposed crypto law last year is o! The table. Listed first for Parliament’s monsoon session, then again in the winter, that legislation is also now off the agenda. All this time, India’s youth, who the Prime Minister worried were being lured by crypto players’ misleading ads, continue to be swayed, with no norms brought in place to rein in such ballyhoo, and no regulatory watch. Whether this case is different from collective investment and plantation schemes that were belatedly regulated is ponder able. The delay in arriving at a decision also pre-empts Indian start-ups and innovators from developing products and ideas that can be scaled up globally given the nature of these assets. In November, the Government had indicated a forward-looking approach to crypto market oversight. It is time those words are matched with a clear regulatory framework soon instead of ambiguous waffling and dithering.
The Hindu Editorial Words with meanings, synonyms, and antonyms
Synonyms – Instance, disclosure, revelation, phenomenon, indication
Antonyms – Obscurity, hiding, concealment, vagueness, reality
Threshold (noun) – A point of entry or beginning
Synonyms – Dawn, incipience, nascence, cusp, prelude
Antonyms – Omega, twilight, eventide, epilogue, demise
Trail (noun) – A beaten path, typically through the countryside
Synonyms – Boulevard, pavement, turnpike, trajectory, esplanade
Antonyms – Scurry, scud, whizz, scoot, hasten
Emphasized (verb) – To emphasize, stress, or indicate the importance of
Synonyms – Accentuate, enunciate, reiterate, italicize, embellish
Antonyms – Deprecate, abate, mumble, refrain, quell
Flock (noun) – A large number or crowd of people, animals or things
Synonyms – Throng, troupe, gaggle, scrum, skein
Antonyms –Dissipate, adjourn, scramble, clique, coterie
Lured (verb) – To have convinced or manipulated
Synonyms – Inveigled, beguiled, enticed, cajoled, suborned
Antonyms – Cluttered, flummoxed, fuddled, perturbed, muddied
Swayed (verb) – To have been persuaded based on available information
Synonyms –Drave, wheedled, molded, fazed, steered
Antonyms –Impeded, curbed, halted, deterred, dissuaded
Ambiguous (adjective) – Having a meaning that is open to several interpretations
Synonyms –Enigmatic, gnomic, abstruse, mystic, arcane
Antonyms –Pellucid, axiomatic, flagrant, facile, invigorated
Waffling (verb) – To avoid providing a clear answer or statement
Synonyms –Weaseling, flannelling, quibbling, parrying, caviling
Antonyms –Pithy, succinct, compendious, crisp, apposite
Dithering (adjective) – Lacking certainty or decisiveness or unwilling to commit
Synonyms –Oscillating, teetering, fickle, wobbly, astraddle
Antonyms –Committal, reckless, hasty, indiscreet, gutsy
