One hundred and fifty years ago Congress passed the Legal Tender Act, authorizing the use of paper notes to pay government bills. This week, Utah Governor, Gary Herbert signed into law House Bill157 allowing gold and silver to be used as currency in place of increasingly worthless paper notes. Several states have proposed similar bills but Utah’s is the first to pass. The bill provides for transactions based on the weight of the metals to determine their value rather than face value. This allows the use of gold and silver bullion to be used as payment rather than the limited scope of federally minted precious metal coinage.
There are two distinctly separate issues at work here. The first issue is the Governor’s expression of his constituents’ voices. There is genuine concern that the easy money policies in place since September 11th which includes TARP, Quantitative Easing 1,2 and 3?, Operation Twist and so forth will seriously devalue the greenback’s worth. This is not tin foil hat, alarmist conjecture.
Our money supply has ballooned over the last 10 years. Money supply as defined by M1, which is currency plus demand deposits like checking and savings accounts has mushroomed from $1.25 trillion in April of ’02 to $2.22 trillion, currently. That’s an increase of 77%. Furthermore, the Federal Reserve forecasts M1 to grow at a 17.4% rate over the next 12 months. Theoretically, each new dollar printed is worth exponentially less than the one that preceded it. The dollars you hold in your pocket should be worth 77% less than the same dollars in your pocket 10 years ago. Clearly, there is a Dollar devaluing argument to be made.
The second issue is the game changing effect this will have on the physical gold and silver trade. This could truly be a watershed moment. For example, let’s say you’ve been ahead of the game and began buying gold and silver years ago. Good for you. Generally, this meant buying metal from a coin dealer who charged you a premium above the spot market for your purchase and then the government charged you sales tax on top of the merchant’s premium. The end result is that you’ve been overpaying to get in the market. Think of it as a front end loaded mutual fund.
Now that you’re ready to get out, you find yourself offered below market prices on your physical holdings and due to your success, you’ll be issued a capital gains form to pay Uncle Sam his share. The end result is that being right the market meant you had to pay up a total of four times.
Utah House Bill 157 will now treat precious metal transactions just like currency exchanges. In other words, if you ask for change for a $100, you’ll get the entire $100 back. You’ll be able to cash in your precious metal holdings for fair market prices or, simply use precious metals to make purchases, payments or deposits. The law states that metals don’t have to be accepted but, if they are, it will be by weight of the metal and the market price for it.
Finally, the kicker, as I’ve read it, is Utah will offer a one-time tax credit to offset capital gains on any metal that is being exchanged for paper. The capital gains and tax reporting nature of getting out of your holdings will work like a currency exchange. This eliminates the physical black market or, shadow market of physical transactions. This will avoid multiple calls while shopping transaction values and eliminate the tricky conversation of tax reporting issues. Who’d have thought that seldom mentioned Utah would be the pioneer of such forward thinking?
Does this mean that Utah Silver and Gold coin and bullion dealers will now be a thing of the past, as they will no longer be able to make money on the bid-ask spread between buying and selling metals? Or is it just a political chimera that has been thrown up in the air to look like it is affecting the market, when the net result is in actuality zero.
The way I read the bill it ought to seriously hurt gold and silver dealers and return their business to collectible status. Andy
This should seriously hurt physical bullion dealers and return the business to the numismatists.
Lets say your banker charged you 3% each time you went to make a deposit. Then whenever you wanted to make a withdrawal, say $100 you only received $90. Lets then call the banker a 'physical cash dealer'. Who are we 'hurting' again?
Republican president Nixon entered the US into the fiat currency system in the late 60's. Many countries followed suit not long afterwards. These collective actions have presented us with the current world credit problems and imbalances. To cite Obama and the TARP program as one of the main reasons that Utah is beginning to use metals for currency is a clear example of what is wrong with the US. It smacks of thoughtless political rhetoric. I am sorry I ran across the article.