Anatoly Yakovenko, co-founder of Solana Labs, stated on September 7, 2026, that revising IRS tax policies on staking rewards is more critical for the ecosystem than protocol-level economic adjustments. He argues that current tax rules create a burden that outweighs the benefits of changes to burn mechanisms or inflation schedules.
The issue stems from IRS Revenue Ruling 2023-14, which classifies staking rewards as ordinary income upon receipt. This creates phantom income, where users owe taxes on the value of tokens at the time of receipt, even if they have not sold them. If the asset price drops, the tax liability remains based on the higher initial valuation.
In December 2025, Representative Mike Carey and 18 colleagues urged the IRS to revise this guidance before the 2026 tax year. Reform advocates propose treating staking rewards as newly created property, taxable only upon sale. The Solana Policy Institute has also filed legal briefs supporting this approach, though the IRS has not modified its position.
In late August 2026, the Solana network approved governance proposal SGP-0002, which increases the disinflation rate to 30%. While this affects token supply, Yakovenko maintains that improving network capacity and achieving favorable tax treatment are more significant for long-term growth than such protocol-level tweaks.
