Taler ensures asymmetric privacy. The buyer does not expose their identity to the seller (or the government), not what they bought to their bank/payment-provider. But the seller needs to expose their income for tax purposes. This is a good compromise as it follows existing law and prevents tax-evasion and (to some extend) money laundering.

Taler does use crypto, aka cryptography, to make sending payments securely anonymous. That is the main point of it.