Spain’s Sumar Party Pushes 47% Crypto Tax Plan, Ignite Fears of a Political “Crackdown on Bitcoin”

Spain’s left-wing Sumar party has ignited fresh controversy in the country’s crypto sector after proposing a sweeping set of tax reforms that would dramatically raise the fiscal burden on digital asset investors.

The amendments — targeting Spain’s General Tax Law, Income Tax Law, and Inheritance and Gift Tax Law — aim to reshape how gains from cryptocurrencies are classified and taxed, drawing sharp criticism from legal and economic experts.

Under the proposal, crypto profits would no longer be treated as gains from non-financial instruments. Instead, they would be moved into the general income bracket, pushing the maximum tax rate to 47%, up from the current 30% savings tax rate. Corporate entities would face a flat 30% tax on digital asset holdings.

The reforms also call for the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) to introduce a “risk traffic light” system for crypto assets that would appear directly on investor platforms — a measure intended to flag volatility for retail traders.

But the most contentious element so far is Sumar’s push to classify all cryptocurrencies as attachable, seizable property, a category typically reserved for bank accounts and physical assets. Critics argue that this move reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of how digital assets — especially decentralized tokens — actually function.

Legal experts say the plan is “unworkable”

Lawyer Cris Carrascosa publicly challenged the proposal, noting that treating all tokens as seizable is legally and technically impossible, especially under the European Union’s MiCA framework. She pointed out that stablecoins like USDT cannot be held by regulated custodians in the region, making the proposed seizure mechanism “nonsensical.”

The backlash intensified after economist and tax adviser José Antonio Bravo Mateu described the initiative as “a useless attack against Bitcoin,” warning that such measures could push Spanish crypto investors to seek residency elsewhere.

According to Mateu, assets held in self-custody wallets cannot be seized or monitored in the same way as funds stored in traditional financial institutions — making the enforcement mechanisms described by Sumar more symbolic than practical.

“These measures only convince high-net-worth holders to leave once Bitcoin reaches a price where political threats stop mattering.”

Internal disagreement grows as others call for friendlier Bitcoin taxation

Not everyone in Spain’s tax circles agrees with Sumar’s approach. In fact, some senior tax inspectors — including Juan Faus and José María Gentil — recently proposed the creation of a special, more favorable tax regime for Bitcoin.

Their plan would allow Spanish taxpayers to separate wallets and choose between FIFO or weighted-average methods for calculating taxable gains, along with clear valuation rules for transfers between wallets to prevent tax arbitrage.

The proposal comes amid a growing effort by Spain’s tax authority to track crypto activity. The agency issued 328,000 tax notices to crypto holders in 2023 for the 2022 fiscal year, and that number nearly doubled to 620,000 the following year.

Spain’s tax debate stands in sharp contrast to developments in Japan, where regulators are pushing to reduce the tax burden on crypto investors. The Japanese Financial Services Agency (FSA) is advocating for a flat 20% capital gains tax, replacing a structure that currently taxes digital asset income as “miscellaneous earnings” at rates that can reach up to 55%.

If approved, Japan’s move could make the country significantly more attractive to traders and crypto-native businesses — just as Spain considers tightening its own rules.