Small Ontario Town Approves Pilot Project For Paying Property Taxes In Bitcoin

The small town in Ontario-Innisfil, has officially approved a pilot project that allows local businesses and residents to pay their property taxes in Bitcoin. This new option will come into effect in April this year according to the official statement that we have in our Bitcoin news today.

Innisfil has a population of 36,000 people and the town officials believe that paying property taxes in Bitcoin will be cheaper for the residents. This could be the case because the processing fee will be 0.5% compared to the fee that credit card companies charge which is about 1.75%.

The Mayor of Innisfil, Lynn Dollin, believes that this is a very important step for the town because it shows that the community is ready for innovative solutions. A staff report of the town reads:

‘’The demand for this service in Innisfil is unclear at this time; however, innovative solutions and concepts are quickly becoming our identifying feature in attracting and retaining progressive entrepreneurs and professionals to our community.’’

This small town claims to be the first municipality of Canada to accept bitcoin for tax payment. The method of paying taxes means that once users pays the tax in BTC, the amount will convert in Canadian Dollars with the help of the company Coinberry which will deposit the funds into the Innisfil bank account.

However, some believe that this move is am attention-seeking move by the politicians and it has a catch behind it. For example, businesses and residents of Innisfil could actually be paying more than they should because of the price fluctuations. The town even warned the users:

‘’For example, if a user sent 1 Bitcoin to pay for their taxes at 12:01 am when the rate to sell Bitcoin on the Coinberry platform was $5,000 CAD/Bitcoin but the 4th confirmation on the blockchain took place at 12:40 am and by that time the rate to sell Bitcoin on the Coinberry platform had changed to $4,950 CAD/Bitcoin, Coinberry would be responsible to remit to Innisfil $4,950 CAD and the user (taxpayer) would be responsible for the remaining $50 to satisfy their tax account obligation.’’

Some of the users are not going to use this method because of the recent QuadrigaCX saga where $190 million are likely lost after the CEO of the platform died. This means that the small town will have to reassure its users about the integrity of the payments and the payment processor.