AP Photo/David Zalubowski
- Colorado Governor Jared Polis wants his state to be the first to accept cryptocurrency for taxes.
- "I'd be thrilled to be the first state to let you pay your taxes in a variety of cryptos," Polis said.
- Polis has long been a crypto bull and was the first politician to accept campaign donations in bitcoin.
- Sign up here for our daily newsletter, 10 Things Before the Opening Bell.
Colorado Governor Jared Polis told Coindesk he wants his state to be the first to allow residents to pay state taxes with cryptocurrencies on Tuesday.
"I'd be thrilled to be the first state to let you pay your taxes in a variety of cryptos," Polis said in an interview at Coindesk's Consensus 2021 virtual conference.
He added: "Colorado is and will be the center for blockchain innovation in the United States, attracting investments and good jobs and innovators in infrastructure, digital identity, [and] individual data security in the private and public sector."
Polis has long been an avid cryptocurrency supporter. He was the first politician to legally accept campaign donations in bitcoin and previously sparred with US Senator Joe Manchin over cryptocurrencies.
Manchin wrote a letter in 2014 describing bitcoin as "suspect, if not outright detrimental" and called on federal regulators to ban its use before Americans get left "holding the bag on a valueless currency."
Polis responded to Manchin's letter by replacing all the instances of BTC in the note with "dollar bills" in a satirical call to ban the fiat currency.
"As digital currencies like bitcoin become more popular, the level of awareness will increase in Congress as well," Polis wrote, per Coindesk.
"It's important to continue to establish the basic fact that the dollar is the currency of choice for cartels, criminals, and illicit transactions and is likely to stay that way for the foreseeable future," he added.
If Polis' vision becomes a reality, his state won't be the first to try and accept cryptocurrencies for tax purposes.
In 2018, Ohio announced the creation of OhioCrypto.com, which would allow businesses (but not individuals) to pay taxes using digital currency.
The program turned out to be a failure, with only 10 companies using the website, according to the new treasurer, Robert Sprague. Sprague then ended the program in 2019.