Legislature Nixes Bitcoin Tax Payments

New Hampshire has decided it isn’t going to be bitcoin-friendly — at least when it comes to tax payments.

Following a decision that came out of the New Hampshire House of Representatives, the legislative body decided that it would not set the tone for the country by allowing citizens to pay for their taxes in bitcoin. This bill has commonly been referred to as the Bitcoin Tax bill. It was voted down 264 to 74, according to a Forbes report.

What the bill called for was the requirement of the New Hampshire treasurer to “develop an implementation plan for the state to accept bitcoin as payment for taxes and fees.”

Of course, with all the negative rhetoric surrounding bitcoin and its volatility, it may not have come as a shock to many that the government group didn’t want to enable its residents to pay for taxes using the digital currency. The logistics to enable bitcoin could be challenging enough due to its volatile nature and changing value.

The bill was introduced last year by New Hampshire State Representative Eric Schleien who had been working to keep the public updated about the option to embrace bitcoin payments for taxes. He suggested that by using a company like BitPay to process the payments, it would not be an additional cost to the state. Using that company also took away the risk to the state, he expressed.

While he wasn’t able to push the bill through, he did manage to get a noteworthy amount of support — especially given bitcoin’s reputation. That means he isn’t stopping on his mission to get this bill passed eventually.

“I’ll keep trying until it passes,” he said, according to Forbes.