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First Government Office in the US To Accept Bitcoin As Payment (orlandosentinel.com)
Long-time Slashdot reader SonicSpike quotes the Orlando Sentinel: If cash, check or credit card seems too old-fashioned, Seminole County, Florida Tax Collector Joel Greenberg said this week his office will begin accepting bitcoin as payment for new IDs, license plates and property taxes starting next month. Greenberg said accepting bitcoin and bitcoin cash as a payment method will promote transparency and accuracy in payment.
"There's no risk to the taxpayer," said Greenberg, who has often raised eyebrows since his 2016 election by moves including encouraging certain employees with concealed-weapons permits to carry a firearm openly as a security measure. "Blockchain technology is the future of the whole financial industry."
A spokesperson for a neighboring county's tax collector said they had no plans to follow the move. "Frankly, I think the currency is so volatile that I donâ(TM)t think it makes sense."
And an official at a nearby county said bitcoin payments were "not on our to-do list", adding that no one in the county had requested the ability to pay their taxes in bitcoin.
"There's no risk to the taxpayer," said Greenberg, who has often raised eyebrows since his 2016 election by moves including encouraging certain employees with concealed-weapons permits to carry a firearm openly as a security measure. "Blockchain technology is the future of the whole financial industry."
A spokesperson for a neighboring county's tax collector said they had no plans to follow the move. "Frankly, I think the currency is so volatile that I donâ(TM)t think it makes sense."
And an official at a nearby county said bitcoin payments were "not on our to-do list", adding that no one in the county had requested the ability to pay their taxes in bitcoin.
BitPay is guaranteeing the exchange rate for long enough for the transaction to go through. So the tax office never actually takes Bitcoin - BitPay takes BitCoin, and sends cash to the government office. And presumably, BitPay gets a cut somewhere in there.
It's more or less like adding a new credit card processor, as far as the receiver of the payment is concerned.
A thousand pounds of wood moving at 300 feet per minute. Don't get in the way.
There likely is no risk, the country is probably using the same sort of bitcoin payment processors that various merchants do. When using these services the recipient never sees or touches a bitcoin, they only receive fiat. When someone indicates that they want to pay with bitcoin the payment processor is given a dollar amount, they do a real time conversion to bitcoin and provide a payment address and a coin amount, when that coin amount shows up at the address the recipient is notified and the recipient's account is credited for the exact dollar amount they original specified. The taxpayer was never exposed to any bitcoin volatility risk. The taxpayer merely paid a payment processor's fee, just like when they accept a credit card and pay a fee.