Arizona’s Crypto Tax Payments Bill Clears Hurdle

A key committee in Arizona’s House of Representatives has given its blessing to a bill that would clear the way for the state to accept cryptocurrencies as payment for taxes.

The House Rules Committee voted to approve the measure – which as CoinDesk previously reported has been subject to revision – on Monday, ending what appeared to be a freeze on the bill after the House Ways and Means Committee gave its approval early last month. It now proceeds to the full House for a vote.

If approved, the bill would empower the Arizona Department of Revenue to collect taxes in the form of cryptocurrency – and make the state the first in the U.S. to officially accept a cryptocurrency as payment.

While an old version of the bill named bitcoin, the new version is more “agnostic” toward which coins might be accepted and gives more leeway to tax officials, according to Representative Jeff Weninger, one of the proposed law’s sponsors. Weninger told CoinDesk earlier this month that the bill’s sponsors were working to make it more easily understood by the legislature’s other members, but hoped to pass it within weeks.

And though Arizona appears to be moving ahead with its cryptocurrency tax plan, other states haven’t been so successful.

Georgia State Senator Mike Williams told CoinDesk earlier this month that the bill he sponsored has stalled due in part to a lack of understanding among lawmakers there.

“[Passing the bill is] going to take educating decision-makers and government regulators on what cryptocurrencies are,” Williams said at the time.

Illinois is also considering a similar tax payments measure. As of April 13, that bill was being considered by the Illinois House of Representative’s Rules Committee, public records show.

Cryptocurrencies image via Shutterstock

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