The governor of Colorado, Jared Polis, has stated that people would be able to pay taxes in cryptocurrencies as early as summer 2022. Taxes were the first step while things like driver’s licenses and hunting license payments in crypto might follow suit soon.
Polis stated in a Tuesday CNBC interview that cryptocurrency owners in Colorado might transmit tax payments in digital currency, which the state would subsequently convert back to fiat. The governor stated that the exchange of crypto to fiat will most likely be handled by an undisclosed intermediary.
“We hope to adopt crypto for all of our state tax-related reasons by this summer — quite soon,” Polis stated. “Then, within a few months, we plan to roll that out across the entire state government for things like driver’s licenses and hunting licenses.”
The governor stated that he was “not at all” concerned about the possible volatility of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) because the state had no intention of hoarding the coins and would convert the monies immediately.
Reduced transaction costs, as well as the opportunity of fostering a new asset class, were cited by Polis as reasons for the state’s possible adoption of crypto payments.
History of Colorado and Crypto
Polis signed the Colorado Digital Token Act into law shortly after assuming office in 2019. The bill attempted to exempt “mainly consumptive purpose” tokens from several securities restrictions.
State Senator Chris Hansen is also working on a bill that would “enable state-created digital tokens to be used for state reserve purposes,” according to the governor.
In January, Hansen submitted legislation to update the state’s commercial code “to preserve ownership and control of digital information assets generated by agricultural producers in a way similar to Wyoming’s revisions.”
Rather than waiting for a framework from Congress, several US senators have recommended tackling any possible regulatory uncertainties surrounding digital assets at the state level.
A member of the Tennessee House of Representatives proposed earlier this month that the state be allowed to invest in crypto and nonfungible tokens. Wyoming has also sponsored a number of bills targeted at attracting crypto mining companies to the state.
