US Congressman to introduce first Bitcoin Bill (recognize as currency)

[Pangia]

http://www.followthecoin.com/breaking-us-congressman-steve-stockman-introduce-first-bitcoin-bill/

BREAKING: US Congressman Steve Stockman To Introduce First Bitcoin Bill
BY MATT SCHLICHT · APRIL 8, 2014


 
 
Congressman Steve Stockman has introduced a Bitcoin Bill in an attempt to recognize virtual currency as currency. This is almost immediately following the announcement from the IRS, on March 25th 2014, that virtual currencies such as Bitcoin are officially considered property, and not currency.

Why is this important?

While virtual currencies are recognized by the US government as property you are required to pay capital gains tax on any transaction you do. This means that if you bought a Bitcoin at $100 and spent it when it was worth $600 you would have to pay taxes on the $500 increase in value on that Bitcoin.

Interestingly enough, Rep. Stockman is the first member of U.S. Congress to accept Bitcoin contributions.

[BittBurger]

I remember listening to him discuss this on Lets talk Bitcoin podcast a few months ago.
It was just in the planning stages back then, and he was commenting somewhat timidly that it was a "long shot", because BTC hadn't even been recognized yet.
Now that the IRS ruling has come out, its a bullseye.  Perfect timing, and really glad he got this ball rolling early.
I cant stress how awesome LTB podcast is for this stuff. 

-B-