New York State Democrats Propose Supporting Legislation for Proof-of-Work Mining

PANews, October 20—According to Decrypt, last Friday, U.S. Democratic Representative Anna Kelles introduced Bill A9138 in the New York State Assembly and submitted it to the fundraising committee for review. The bill proposes to impose a consumption tax on electricity used by digital asset mining enterprises that adopt proof-of-work authentication, and serves as a counterpart to Senator Liz Krueger's S8518 bill. Both bills require crypto mining companies to pay fees to New York State's Energy Affordability Program based on their electricity consumption. The specific tax rate depends on the amount of electricity consumed: up to 2.25 million kilowatt-hours is tax-exempt, and above that, different brackets are taxed at rates ranging from 2 to 5 cents per kilowatt-hour. A9138 stipulates that mining facilities powered entirely by renewable energy and operating off-grid are exempt from this tax, in order to encourage sustainable development. The tax revenue will be directly used for the Energy Affordability Program. If passed, the tax will take effect on January 1, 2027. Both versions are currently under committee review.