TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Jan. 2, 2025) – A bill filed in the Florida Senate would officially recognize gold and silver as legal tender and repeal state taxes on both. Passage into law would set the stage for the people themselves to undermine the Federal Reserve monopoly by introducing competition into the monetary system.
Sen. Ana Rodriguez filed Senate Bill 132 (S132). Under the proposed law, physical gold and silver “specie legal tender,” along with electronic currency that is 100% backed by physical gold or silver – and fully redeemable for the corresponding physical metal on demand – would be recognized as legal tender in Florida.
The term “Specie legal tender” is defined as coins with gold or silver content and bullion issued by the federal government, any foreign government, or “any other specie recognized by this state or any other state pursuant to s. 10, Art. I of the United States Constitution.”
The bill further defines gold and silver electronic currency as “a representation of physical gold, silver, specie, or bullion which may be transferred through a digital transaction.” Such currency must also be “fully redeemable as physical gold, silver, specie, or bullion.”
Under this framework, gold and silver would be treated as legal tender for all transactions within the state. They would be officially recognized as valid “to pay private debts, taxes, and fees levied by the state or local government or any subdivision thereof.”
The passage of S132 would make Florida the sixth state to recognize gold and silver as legal tender, as they always should have been doing. Utah led the way, reestablishing constitutional money in 2011. Wyoming, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana have since joined.
IN PRACTICE
Practically speaking, this would allow Florida residents to use gold or silver in both physical and electronic forms as money rather than as mere investment vehicles.
Passage of S132 would represent a big first step against the fiat-based Federal Reserve system by creating a foundation to pull the rug out from under it on the state and local levels. In essence, it would set the stage for the people themselves to undermine the Federal Reserve monopoly by introducing competition into the monetary system.
The next step would be for people to start taking advantage of the status of gold and silver as money by using both as such instead of Federal Reserve notes.
The effect has been most dramatic in Utah where the Specie Legal Tender Act opened the door for the development of a robust gold and silver economy in the state. With some legal hurdles cleared away by the state’s legal tender law, the United Precious Metal Association (UPMA) in partnership with Alpine Gold Exchange set up the state’s first “gold bank.”
The Act has also led to the creation of the Goldback, a local, voluntary medium of exchange. Goldbacks are notes made from fractions of an ounce of physical gold. The company created a process that turns pure gold into a spendable physical form for small transactions.
REMOVING TAXES
Under S132, special legal tender would be exempt from all forms of taxation.
- Specie or specie legal tender may not be characterized as personal property for taxation or regulatory purposes.
- The purchase or sale of any type or form of specie does not give rise to any tax liability.
- The exchange of one type or form of legal tender for another type or form of legal tender does not give rise to any tax liability.
Under current law, Florida levies sales tax on transactions involving gold and silver that are under $500.
Taxes on precious metal bullion erect barriers to using gold and silver as money by raising transaction costs.
Imagine if you asked a grocery clerk to break a $5 bill and he charged you a 35-cent tax. Silly, right? After all, you were only exchanging one form of money for another. But that’s essentially what a sales tax on gold and silver bullion does. By eliminating this tax on the exchange of gold and silver, Florida would treat gold and silver specie more like money. This would support gold and silver as legal tender and break down the Fed’s monopoly on money.
“We ought not to tax money – and that’s a good idea. It makes no sense to tax money,” former U.S. Rep. Ron Paul said during testimony in support of an Arizona bill that repealed capital gains taxes on gold and silver in that state. “Paper is not money, it’s fraud,” he continued.
BACKGROUND
The United States Constitution states in Article I, Section 10, “No State shall…make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts.” Currently, all debts and taxes in Florida are either paid with Federal Reserve Notes (dollars) which were authorized as legal tender by Congress, or with coins issued by the U.S. Treasury – very few of which have gold or silver in them.
The Federal Reserve destroys this constitutional monetary system by creating a monopoly based on its fiat paper currency. Without the backing of gold or silver, the central bank can easily create money out of thin air.
This not only devalues your purchasing power over time; it also allows the federal government to borrow and spend far beyond what would be possible in a sound money system. Without the Fed, the U.S. government wouldn’t be able to maintain all of its unconstitutional wars and programs. The Federal Reserve is the engine that drives the most powerful government in the history of the world.
State bills that facilitate and encourage the use of sound money create a playing field where people can push back against the Fed’s monetary malfeasance. Ultimately, it could create a scenario where people can drive out the “bad” fiat money with “good” sound money.
WHAT’S NEXT
S132 will be referred to a committee when the Florida legislature convenes on March 4.
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