0.2% crypto transaction tax is here! A digital advocacy group sues Illinois officials to stop “you should pay even when it isn’t profitable”

The Digital Chamber, a US digital asset advocacy organization, has officially filed a lawsuit against the government of Illinois, urging it to stop the rollout of a 0.2% crypto transaction tax for the 2027 fiscal year, saying the tax “doesn’t care whether you profit or not—if you hold it, you pay.”
(Background: Using Metamask could be a felony! Illinois’ “digital regulatory draft” in the US requires decentralized services to obtain licenses)
(Additional context: US lawmakers from both parties push the “Digital Assets PARITY Act”: small stablecoin tax exemptions, and miners who stake can defer taxes for up to 5 years)

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• Pay taxes even if you don’t make money
• Where the tax comes from
• Crypto tax trends across the US

US cryptocurrency advocacy organization The Digital Chamber filed a lawsuit on Tuesday in the Sangamon County District Court in Illinois, accusing the state’s plan to impose a 0.2% tax rate on crypto transactions in the 2027 fiscal year of being “facially invalid.”

The group announced on X that the defendants are Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and tax authority director David Harris, claiming the 0.2% tax rate was “quietly inserted into the budget bill,” with no public hearings or solicitation of opinions from affected residents throughout the process.

Pay taxes even if you don’t make money

In a blog post on Tuesday, The Digital Chamber said: “No one should be charged different taxes because of differences in records of ownership or the way assets are transferred. Simply put, this tax discriminates against people who use digital asset transactions.”

The organization emphasized that the 0.2% rate is “universally applicable,” regardless of whether investors realize gains, and even whether ownership is “actually transferred” or not.

Where the tax comes from

This crypto tax comes from a Senate pre-draft bill in Illinois, as part of the state budget for the 2027 fiscal year. The bill requires crypto brokers to collect the 0.2% tax, or face fines and even imprisonment. The bill was signed into law by Governor JB Pritzker this June.

Although 0.2% may sound small, for high-frequency traders or investment users holding large amounts of crypto assets, the accumulated costs cannot be ignored.

Crypto tax trends across the US

Illinois is not the only state going after cryptocurrencies. The US Internal Revenue Service has also recently continued to strengthen crypto asset tax reporting rules, requiring exchanges to provide more detailed tax information. If the lawsuit succeeds, it could set a precedent for other states’ crypto tax policies.