The New Hampshire House of Representatives downvoted the bill, sponsored by Republican Representatives Dennis Acton and Michael Yakubovich and introduced on January 3rd, 2019.
If the case was different, the bill dubbed “HB 470” might have opened up the door for the citizens of New Hampshire to pay their taxes and fees to the state in any form of Digital Currencies from July 1, 2020. The state treasure thereby had to find a third-party processor who can process the cryptocurrency transactions without charging anything to the state.
However, legislators claimed that the decision taken by the General Court’s Executive Department and Administration Committee regarding HB 470 was unwise to be implemented. They wanted it to be canceled. And so did the committee who killed the bill with a majority in the voting held in November 2019.
What changes might have been effective if the bill had passed?
The bill might have opened up the door for the citizens of New Hampshire to pay their taxes and fees to the state in any form of Digital Currencies from July 1, 2020. The state treasure thereby had to find a third-party processor who can process the cryptocurrency transactions without charging anything to the state.
The bill was proposed by two Republicans, Dennis Acton & Michael Yakubovich. It was presented on January 3, 2019. The New Hampshire House Bill 470 comprised two major clauses which were quite confusing. If taxes are allowed to be paid in cryptocurrency, then will it be allowed for full payment or partial payment? If some of the cryptocurrencies are allowed, then which all currencies will be allowed? Bitcoin? Or any other as well?
Having said that, it was surprisingly passed by the sub-committee of the House Executive Departments and Administration Committee in February last year.
Since cryptocurrencies are highly volatile in nature, it’s rates are fluctuating. This volatile nature could affect the tax collected by the state and revenue generated will fluctuate. This can indirectly create a problem in state administration.
More so, this isn’t the first of its kind, back in 2015, such Crypto Tax Bill (HB 552) was voted down by the New Hampshire Lawmakers. During that time, a similar kind of bill was passed. It was killed off in the committee phase itself.
Later in 2018, a similar bill was proposed in Arizona which was taken down and scrapped due to insufficient votes.
Presently, taxes can only be paid in U.S. Dollars at New Hampshire. If paid in any foreign currencies, it is duly returned. Ohio was the only state where cryptocurrency was accepted while paying taxes and fees to the state which eventually in due course of time, removed when the new treasurer, Robert Sprague, took the command.