Colorado moves ahead
Jared Polis, Governor of Colorado, announces that cryptocurrencies will be accepted as payment for taxes starting in the summer of 2022. So it should soon be possible to pay your taxes with BTC!
In an interview with CNBC, Jared Polis, Governor of Colorado, was quite clear on the subject. “We expect to accept cryptocurrencies for all of our state tax purposes this summer, pretty soon,” Polis confirmed. He added that an intermediary will then convert the payments into US dollars. So the U.S. state will not hold cryptocurrencies in crypto form, but will convert them to fiat.
Polis cited the risk of volatility as the reason. Also, the state itself would have to pay its expenses in dollars. Therefore, there would be no other option but to convert the crypto taxes collected back into fiat money. In this context, it will be interesting to see what happens to any capital gains generated. And for taxpaying citizens on the other hand, exchange rate developments will also play a crucial role in determining when they pay their taxes.
Taxes as a pioneering project
The governor of Colorado has been known as a crypto advocate for years and has accepted donations in the form of BTC in his election campaign. In May last year, he announced that he wanted to adjust the tax law accordingly, which is now about to be implemented. In the future, he believes it is possible that the law will also be applied to many other areas. It will be interesting to see whether other states follow Colorado’s example.
Besides Polis, there are admittedly other politicians who are pro-crypto and would like to see cryptocurrencies become more involved – in the US, for example, Francis Suarez, the mayor of Miami, who promoted Miami as a location for Bitcoin miners and stated that he wanted to receive his salary in Bitcoin. New York Mayor Adams, on the other hand, has spoken out against mining but still wanted to receive 3 paychecks in BTC.
For all the positive news, there is still a long way to go for mass adoption of cryptocurrencies. Although more and more companies are increasingly investing in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies and are starting to consider cryptocurrencies as a means of payment, there are plenty of warners and cautioners on the opposite side, such as warning about the dangers of cryptocurrencies. Be it the volatility or the eco-balance – the criticism of Bitcoin is manifold and partly measures are taken against mining or trading with cryptos. Nevertheless, in addition to Polis, there are more and more politicians who also advocate the inclusion of cryptocurrencies.