Venezuela Moves to Accept Taxes in State-Issued Crypto

The Bolivarian Council of Mayors in Venezuela signed the so-called “National Tax Harmonization Agreement”, which allows the use of state-issued cryptocurrency, Petro (PTR) as a means to collect payments of taxes and sanctions.

The cryptocurrency is becoming increasingly widely used as the result of a new campaign.

According to the government, the vice president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, will be in charge of implementing a single registry of taxpayers through a digital consultation tool.

She will also be in charge of creating an information exchange and monitoring system for companies to record payments in the state cryptocurrency.

In Venezuela, there are 335 mayors, with 91% of them under the mandate of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, PSUV. Only 30 mayors are led by opponents of the regime of Nicolás Maduro.

The non-Maduro-supported municipal governments are continuing to collect tax payments in the Venezuelan fiat currency, Bolívar, as some do not have the appropriate technology to process Petro payments.

Vice President Rodríguez commented in the announcement:

“It is the simplification of procedures, making the State’s administrative activity at the service of the people more efficient, of the economic sectors that stimulate economic activity in the productive and commercial areas, framed in this week of flexibility that began on Monday.”

The Venezuelan government announced on June 11 that almost 15% of all fuel payments at petrol stations across the country were made using the Petro (PTR). This rise comes during the first week of the new state-backed plan to promote widespread use of the token.

According to reports from local media outlets, 40% of the PTR transactions passed through the foreign petrol stations.