Bitcoins earned from signature campaigns and bounties count as ordinary income and they don't qualify for lower tax rates as capital gains. But then, the most important question is whether we should pay tax on those coins which are still in our wallet or not. Ideally, I would pay taxes only on those coins which I sold for fiat. But if Bitcoin is ordinary income, then we need to pay tax on all our coins, right?
Bitcoin is not an ordinary income because you're unable to directly cash it out from your wallet. If I could pay my taxes in Bitcoin I'd gladly do so directly, but if i'm forced to use an exchange to convert to fiat and pay fees along the way, no thank you. Nobody will make me pay taxes from tokens that are lying on some address without my name on it and that I can't spend on anything in my country but have to use an exchange first. Next thing they'll make us pay taxes for tokens earned in computer games just because theoretically we can exchange them to money on ebay.
Whether you like it or not, the government want you to pay taxes on your signature campaign earnings and airdrop tokens. With each passing day, they are eliminating loopholes which can be used by crypto-users to avoid taxes. Very soon, we will be required to give details of our crypto-holdings. If we hide our holdings, then they will proceed with tax evasion charges.
It seems to me that you're oversimplifying the situation. The government is not interested in our taxes. They are concerned about the level of freedom which allows for the use of cryptocurrencies. I am sure that they have set for themselves the task of a complete ban on the use of cryptocurrencies. Paying taxes is only a formal reason to fight with cryptocurrency. Very soon we will understand but will be late. Now need to create the conditions for the cryptocurrency can be used directly without exchanging for Fiat.