A tax collector in Florida has announced today that his office will begin accepting bitcoin and bitcoin cash through payment processor BitPay starting this summer, making it the first U.S. government agency to do so.
In order to pay taxes with a debit or credit card, the use of a third-party processor has been required, which often incurs high fees. Yet for Joel Greenberg, Seminole County Tax Collector, the use of the blockchain enables the tax collector to remove many of those fees, at the same time as improving payment accuracy, efficiency, and transparency for Seminole County tax payers.[1]
“We live in a world where technology has made access to services on demand, with same-day delivery and the expectation of highly efficient customer service and we should expect the same from our government,” Greenberg said in an announcement. “The aim of my tenure in office is to make our customer experience faster, smarter, and more efficient, and to bring government services from the 18th century into the 21st century and one way is the addition of cryptocurrency to our payment options.”
Greenberg, who was elected Tax Collector in November 2016, took office in January 2017. Since then he has directed his office to introduce new technologies such as artificial intelligence, the adoption of the blockchain technology, and other improvements throughout his team.
Now, in a further bid to serve the residents of Seminole County, Greenberg’s office will be using BitPay, the largest global blockchain payments provider. Founded in 2011, the organisation enables businesses to send and receive cross-border payments. It also provides a platform for consumers to manage their digital assets via its BitPay Wallet. In April, it was reported that the payments processor had closed its Series B funding round with a total
