Policy Forum: Digital Asset Mining and GST—Tax Policy Versus Public Policy

On February 4, 2022, the Department of Finance released draft legislation that, if enacted, would deem digital asset mining activities undertaken in Canada not to be "commercial activities" for goods and services tax (GST)/harmonized sales tax (HST) purposes. In 1991, Canada introduced the GST to remove sales tax as a cost of doing business in Canada with a view to making Canada's domestically produced goods and services more competitive in international markets. Yet 30 years later, Finance is proposing legislation hidden in the "special cases" provisions of the GST legislation that will make the 5 percent to 15 percent GST/HST an input cost to Canadian digital asset miners selling their computing services to non-residents of Canada. Further, it appears that Finance is doing so with an ulterior public policy objective—to impose financial market regulation and "know-your-client" rules on mining operators. This article provides an overview of how proof-of-work cryptocurrency blockchains operate, the parties involved, how GST would normally apply to the sector and to Canadian participants in particular, and why the proposed February 4, 2022 amendments are problematic from a tax policy perspective.