(Stillness in the Storm Editor) Recently, an important event took place regarding the freedom of trade and commerce within the U.S.; the Arizona House passed a bill into law that alters the way precious metals are exchanged for Federal Reserve Notes. Previously, an investor would have to pay income tax when selling assets at a higher value than when they were originally purchased. But such “gains” are not reflective of an increase in value of the metal, merely a loss of value in the dollar due to inflation. In other words, taxing precious metal exchanges is akin to the Fed penalizing consumers for their own failure to manage the value of the dollar properly.
Since money is a representation of value, if it costs more to buy something after it is initially purchased then this means that the currency has lost value because it takes more dollars to buy the same amount of goods. The currency is worth less than it is at first, which is known as inflation.
The new Arizona decision would not tax so-called gains in value from the sale of precious metals. If you bought $10,000 of gold ten years ago and sold it today for $30,000 you won’t have to pay taxes on the $20,000 you “made.”
This is important for several reasons.
Firstly, the new policy is more in harmony with reality and the truth—that increases in “value” with respect to commodities is not really income at all. Secondly, it opens the door for tax-free commerce by trading in precious metals instead of dollars—you can buy and sell goods and services with gold and not suffer as many risks of inflation.
This means that the people in Arizona can now develop trading platforms that operate outside the Federal Reserve system (to a certain extent), which hasn’t been possible for some time—unless one takes advantage of so-called crypto-currencies like bitcoin. And by trading in precious metals, they will be shielded from losses of value due to inflation.
Many in the asset-backed money crowd will be very happy with this turn of events, and they should be, as this places more power in the people’s hands.
But it should be noted that what makes this decision empowering is not the return to asset-backed money, per say. It is the fact that transactions are able to take place interest- and tax-free, and most importantly, that asset-backed trading policy is in the hands of the people. That is, when individuals use precious metals to pay for goods they are not subject to the regulations for Federal Reserve notes, such as the income tax imposed by a private bank for the privilege of using dollars.
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Commerce that takes place using precious metals or bitcoins is managed by the people that use these systems—an individual has to understand and adhere to an honest use of them, for the most part. And this honest and wise usage is what makes them so powerful.
Of course, this places the burden of honorable and lawful use on the individual and if they act honesty, then the everyone prospers. Conversely, when people forget how to use their chosen currency fairly, insidious controllers can step in to impose destructive policies.
Historically speaking, this is what has happened with almost every financial system not maintained by the people, such as colonial script in the days of the revolution that was made untenable due to manipulation on the part of the British.
For example, if a gold and silver trading coalition decided to impose itself into the market, saying that all transactions needed to be taxed to maintain the safety of the system, then this would prevent people from using it freely, an equivalent system to the Federal Reserve insofar as criminal manipulation.
In order to keep a financial system lawful, the people need to understand how it works, why it works, and how to maintain it fairly and honorably. We can’t place that responsibility onto another person or institution’s hands because over a long enough course of time, corruption will take hold.
The present incarnation of the financial system, with all its corruption via debt-based and interest bearing charges, is maintained by the ignorance and lack of participation of the people, who use it without questioning if it is lawful, fair, or just. It appears that a financial system is only as good as the level of intelligence and stewardship of the people who use it.
So while this is good news as it opens the door for free trade, we can’t allow ourselves to think the system can be maintained fairly without investing ourselves in it. The fact it is asset backed might provide some advantages, but we still need to become wise, knowledgeable people who can recognize fraud and corruption so we work together to keep it fair and honest.
All this being said, I think this is an encouraging development, and it might herald a sweeping change to the existing debt-based Federal Reserve-run financial system.
(Matt Agorist)
Source – The Free Thought Project
by Matt Agorist, May 23rd, 2017
A major victory against the United States Federal Reserve comes out of
Arizona this week as Arizona Governor Doug Ducey signed House Bill 2014
into law — officially allowing Arizona residents to use precious metals
as currency — instead of fiat federal reserve notes.
The bill went after the federal government’s attack on precious metals by eliminating the capital gains taxes on precious metals. Arizona residents no longer have to tell the federal government how much they ‘gained’ or ‘lost’.
To put this in layman’s terms, if you buy an ounce of gold today for $1,200 and tomorrow it takes $1,300 to buy that same ounce — you did not make money — because that value is based on federal reserve notes. If you sell that coin for $100 more, it is not a profit but, rather, a loss.
“It’s called inflation,” Representative Mark Finchem, who introduced the bill on January 9, said. “The Internal Revenue Service for many, many years has been taxing inflation as though it was a gain.”
The Arizona bill now allows people to “deduct the amount of any net capital gain derived from the exchange of one kind of legal tender for another kind of legal tender or specie (gold and silver coins) from their gross income on their state income tax.”
“The U.S. Mint is charged with protecting the value of money, but the Federal Reserve creates nothing but debt. Yet Congress authorized a tax when making the exchange of precious metals for dollars. It’s illegal and they know it, this bill is an effort by one state to protect the people from such confiscation,” said Finchem.
Naturally, this news is music to the ears of former Congressman and Campaign for Liberty Chairman Ron Paul, who testified before the Arizona Senate Finance Committee in support of the bill in March.
“By allowing the people of Arizona to use an alternative to Federal Reserve-created fiat currency, HB 2014 will help the people of Arizona survive the next Federal Reserve-created recessions. Passage of this bill will also help make Arizona more attractive to the growing number of people seeking alternatives to fiat money in order to protect themselves, their families, and their business from the effects of Federal Reserve policy. Thus, this bill will help attract new investments and jobs to Arizona,” said Paul.
As a reminder, as Zero Hedge notes, in 1813 Thomas Jefferson warned, “paper money is liable to be abused, has been, is, and forever will be abused, in every country in which it is permitted.” This is also why the men who drafted the Constitution empowered Congress to mint gold and silver, sound money, and why they included not a single syllable authorizing the legislature to “surrender that critical power to a plutocracy with a penchant for printing fiat money.”
The notion of states protecting citizens from the Federal Reserve’s monopoly on currency and tax through inflation was all but non-existent until recently. Now, there are at least 20 states considering legislation to shield themselves from this illegal practice.
The Idaho House voted by a margin of 56-13 on March 14 to pass House Bill 206, following the Arizona House’s approval.
According to the Tenth Amendment Center, “The legislation would amend Idaho revenue statutes, providing “that capital gains and losses on precious metals bullion and monetized bullion sales be added to or subtracted from Idaho taxable income.”
While this news is certainly heartening, the war is far from over. This is but one battle in a war on money that the state has been waging throughout history. However, as more people wake up to the thieving tyranny that is the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy, the central banker’s days become numbered.
As Campaign for Liberty President Norm Singleton pointed out after the passage of HB 2014, “Campaign for Liberty is planning to work with activists across the country to get more state legislatures to follow Arizona’s lead. We will also continue our critical work to change our nation’s money monopoly by getting Congress to vote on — and pass — Audit the Fed.”
We will be here right along side C4L to help return the power of money to the people. Please share this article with your friends and family so that they may see the power of information.
About The Author
Matt Agorist
Matt Agorist is an honorably discharged veteran of the USMC and former intelligence operator directly tasked by the NSA. This prior experience gives him unique insight into the world of government corruption and the American police state. Agorist has been an independent journalist for over a decade and has been featured on mainstream networks around the world. Agorist is also the Editor at Large at the Free Thought Project. Follow @MattAgorist on Twitter, Steemit, and now on Facebook.
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