If Bitcoin is money, why is spending it a taxable event?

I’ve been learning more about Bitcoin and really like the idea of it being sound money. But one thing keeps bugging me, and I’d love to hear the community’s perspective.

If I use Bitcoin to buy something — say a coffee — that’s considered a disposition of an asset by the CRA here in Canada. That would trigger a capital gains tax, depending on what I originally paid for that BTC. That’s not how spending actual money works — I don’t pay capital gains when I use fiat at a store.

So here’s my question: If Bitcoin is truly money, shouldn’t it be treated like money from a tax perspective too? The way things are now, it feels like the system is pushing people not to use it in daily life.

Is this just a growing pain until tax laws catch up? Or is this part of the trade-off we accept in exchange for having money the state can’t manipulate?