Colorado’s governor says residents will be able to pay state taxes in cryptocurrency by mid-year.
The governor also declared the acceptance of cryptocurrencies for all state fees in the future.
Colorado Is Taking Steps To Adopt Crypto
Gov. Jared Polis laid out the timeline for the transition in an interview with CNBC on Tuesday. The reform has been a long-term objective for the state.
He stated that they plan to accept cryptocurrency for the whole of their state tax-related reasons by this summer. They also want to implement it across the entire state government for things like driver’s licenses and hunting licenses.
As the popularity of cryptocurrency grows in the United States, Colorado is one of around 20 states pursuing crypto legislation. Importantly, pew Research estimates that roughly 16% of Americans have participated in digital assets.
Also, Polis has long supported cryptocurrencies, accepting bitcoin donations for his campaign and pushing to make Colorado the US’s blockchain innovation hub.
In May, he first announced the state’s plan to accept cryptocurrency as tax payment at Consensus 2021.
Polis told CNBC that there is a regulation of Colorado’s asset holdings, but he didn’t predict a future change.
He emphasized that people must recognize that they cannot be in the business of trading in a market where securities, including cryptocurrency, fluctuate. They wouldn’t keep it as bitcoin or ethereum in their scenario.
Polis’ Opposed the Feds
Accepting cryptocurrencies will not expose the Western US governor to the cryptocurrency market. The government will convert all crypto payments to dollars rather than hold them for long durations.
Polis added that there will be an intermediary who will convert them back to dollars for their purposes. Polis made a similar remark at a National Governors Association conference last month.
When they elected Polis to Colorado’s legislature in 2014, he was one of the first to accept bitcoin campaign donations.
Colorado would not be the first state to accept digital assets as payment for taxes; however, pilot programs in Ohio and Seminole County, Florida were both unproductive and subsequently abandoned.
Moreover, Colorado’s approach goes against the US federal government’s current interpretation of bitcoin as property, which states that anyone who wishes to pay taxes using cryptocurrencies must first pay taxes on their holdings.
Meanwhile, the United States’ federal government remains skeptical of cryptocurrencies. In fact, federal banking authorities have persisted to caution about the risks of digital assets to the economy under the Biden administration.
Furthermore, one such authority is the Securities and Exchange Commission, whose chairman Gary Gensler has continued to refer to the crypto business as the “Wild West.”
