Ohio Issue – Paying Taxes in Bitcoin Attracts Very Few So Far

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Ohio Issue – Paying Taxes in Bitcoin Attracts Very Few So Far

So far, very few people have taken up the recently launched option to pay their state taxes in bitcoin, Ohio’s new state treasurer says.

Cleveland.com reports that Republican Treasurer Robert Sprague was asked about his office’s experiences with the bitcoin payment option set up in December by his predecessor, Josh Mandel.


Two Tax Payments

Sprague, who took office in January, said the treasurer’s office has received only two tax payments through OhioCrypto.com the state’s bitcoin payment platform. He said that further project developments are needed:

We’re reviewing how [the program] might be either curtailed or might be expanded, and what our counter-party risk is with that vendor,

The Value of the Bitcoin Tax Payments – Undisclosed

According to the source, a spokesman later declined to specify the value of the bitcoin tax payments the state has received, saying individual tax information is confidential. However, Bernie Moreno, a politically active Cleveland businessman who has championed the use of cryptocurrency, said in November that he’d paid his business taxes that month in bitcoin.

This news came in sight when Sprague spoke at a forum with reporters in Columbus organized by the Associated Press of Ohio.

Ohio’s new state treasurer Sprague emphasized that Ohio doesn’t actually receive or hold bitcoin, the virtual currency that has cratered in value since spiking in 2017. The company hired by the state to process the bitcoin payments converts them into dollars before they are sent to the Ohio treasury. The company, Bitpay, takes a 1 percent commission on the transaction as its payment.

Sprague’s predecessor, Josh Mandel, made a splash, generating state and national news coverage, when he announced Ohio’s bitcoin project in December, just weeks before he left office. His staff said at the time they believe Ohio was the first state to allow residents to pay their taxes in bitcoin.


https://www.cryptovibes.com/crypto-news/ohio-issue-paying-taxes-in-bitcoin-attracts-very-few-so-far/