Bill Drafted Requiring New Hampshire to Accept Bitcoin for State Taxes and Fees by 2017

Lawmakers in New Hampshire have drafted a bill that would require the state treasurer to accept bitcoin as payment for state taxes and fees by January 1, 2017.

The bill is titled, “Requiring the state treasurer to develop an implementation plan for the state to accept bitcoin as payment for taxes and fees.” It was sponsored by Eric Schleien, James Spillane, Eddie Edwards, Nick Zaricki, Keith Ammon, Amanda Bouldin, Brian Gallagher and Kevin Avard.

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The draft does not delve into why bitcoin should be accepted and, in fact, quotes the Treasury Department as saying that such a project “may increase state expenditures by an indeterminable amount.” This is because the Treasury has no familiarity with Bitcoin operations and therefore cannot determine in advance how much time and effort would be required.

The plan is briefly described as follows:

“The plan shall address any accounting, valuation, and management issues relative to the acceptance of bitcoin and shall identify an appropriate third party payment processor that will process bitcoin transactions at no cost to the state.”

Meanwhile, Marco Santori, a lawyer with Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, tweeted:

Big things happening in New Jersey #bitcoin regulation this week. Stay tuned for more…

— Marco Santori (@msantoriESQ) February 1, 2015

Several states have been looking into how to tackle bitcoin regulation. New York’s BitLicense proposal, which was reportedly revised after negative feedback, remains pending.