Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard
The 10,000 bitcoins that seven years ago famously paid for the delivery of two Papa John's pizzas would be worth more than $74 million today.
The exploding value of the cryptocurrency since its first real-world transaction in 2010 is one reason the U.S. Internal Revenue Service is pushing to see records on thousands of users of Coinbase Inc., one of the biggest U.S. online exchanges. The company's digital currency platform allows gains to be converted into old-fashioned dollars in transactions that the IRS alleges are going unreported.
Coinbase and industry trade groups are fighting back in court, claiming the government's concerns about tax fraud are unfounded and that its sweeping demand for information is a threat to privacy.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by sjames on Sunday November 12 2017, @06:45PM
It is notable that when the income tax started, the vast majority of people weren't required to file. Unfortunately, the brackets weren't indexed to inflation, so over time later legislatures were able to tax increasing proportions of the population through simple inaction.