Slashdot Mirror
The People of Ohio Can Now Pay Their Taxes in Bitcoin (qz.com)
Starting this week, businesses in Ohio will be able to pay taxes in bitcoin through a new platform, OhioCrypto.com, a first in the US. From a report: For many enthusiasts, part of the appeal of crypto has been the very fact that these currencies are not backed by governments. That makes it harder for politicians to manipulate currencies to their own ends, they say. But for the same reason, states have sought to sideline cryptocurrencies, comfortable to dismiss bitcoin as a passing fad. So Ohio, and its treasurer Josh Mandel, see embracing them as a way to signal that the state is tech-savvy and forward-thinking. "I do see [bitcoin] as a legitimate form of currency," Mandel told (paywall) the Wall Street Journal.
A lot of places that embraced bitcoin quickly are already discontinuing it or not supporting it anymore.
It's never really been stable enough to be used properly as a currency. A currency that hops around in value up and down every few days isn't a very useful currency- it's an investment vehicle not a currency.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
I seriously cannot comprehend how mind-bogglingly stupid [some/most] politicians can be. How do these people even function in society?
This is almost certainly going to be ruinous for Ohio's bottom line. I highly doubt anyone associated with the Ohio treasury is as involved and up to speed on crypto transactions as they would need to be to avoid such a volatile currency blowing up in their faces.
For many enthusiasts, part of the appeal of crypto has been the very fact that these currencies are not backed by governments. That makes it harder for politicians to manipulate currencies to their own ends, they say.
Who needs the government to manipulate your currency when speculators already do so with tumultuous and unpredictable swings in value every day?
he's only treasurer until the first of the year because he didn't run for re-election
They are not taking bitcoin, they are taking USD. Some pay provider converts the coin to USD and hands them over. This would be like saying you can pay with beanie babies if the same provider would take them as payment.
Bitcoin isn't anonymous, or even pseudo anonymous. I"m pretty sure that is the #1 answer in the FAQ.
This story is getting a lot of hype from the BTC evangelists. Of course, the truth is that Ohio is only accepting dollars for taxes. The Ohio treasury is using BitPay to convert BTC immediately into dollars, minus whatever fees are charged for the conversion. Unless you've already had BTC in your possession prior to 2017, what's the point?
The question that BTC evangelists hope you won't ask next is "Who else is still accepting Bitcoin for payments?" Here's a list of companies as tallied last month: https://unblock.net/companies-...
You might recognize maybe half a dozen names from that list. As a means of conducting day-to-day retail transactions, BTC has dropped off the map. It is rarely even mentioned anymore.
States can't make any thing other than gold or silver coin a tender in payment of debts. The legal dodge is that the states aren't the Fed or the Treasury, so it isn't they that are making the requirement of transacting in fiat Federal Reserve Note dollars, so the constitutional restriction does not apply. This dodge fails if a state decides to accept something else as a tax debt payment.
Arguably a necessary characteristic of money is being able to pay your taxes in it, for instance the success of Worgl stampscript (negative interest currency) experiment of the '30s came largely from the local government accepting it as tax payment. The local government also issued it, which gave them the reason to accept it. The negative-interest aspect (had to buy stamps to affix to keep a currency note current) led to a huge increase in the velocity of money as people wished to avoid paying the stamps, and also a huge move toward long-term investment as negative interest rates turned the present-value calculation upside down, making money worth more the further in the future it would be taken out, rather than future returns being discounted.
"Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?" - Patrick Henry
They will learn the details from the audit.
Foreign currency triggers gains/loss when converted to USD, I don't see why bitcoin would be any different.
Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
Actually, when it comes to being anonymous or even pseudonymous it's worse than checks and credit/debit card transactions. Say, I buy 10 kilos of blow and pay with a personal check, a very stupid thing to do. There are laws in place that prevent the local bacon brigade from simply going down to the bank and digging through the books till they find something. They have to go through procedures, get warrants, and have probable cause. Then they narrow their search to specific parameters indicated in the warrant. The banks also have ass loads of lawyers to make sure such searches are kept with in the law. Basically the police can't say to the bank "we want all your records for this date."
You have no such protections with bitcoin. The records are completely public. The police can and have searched the block chain for crimes, and nothing prevents them from doing so.
I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.