I like the way you guys are seeing things. I guess it's just the pessimist in me being negative Nancy...I really hope you're right. On a more selfish note, how should I, as a small time miner, keep track of my daily payouts? I'm open to any and all suggestions.
look at blockchain info. it will tell you what the transaction was worth in usd at the time you made it.
on what exchange? btc "value" is all over the charts, especially last year.
if that's how you determine basis, well just tumble your coins by sending them to your own addresses every few days to keep the "basis" jumping about with the markets.
what's going to happen is the IRS is going to try and say everyone's basis is 0 unless you can prove you paid X for whatever which is almost impossible.