TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (June 30, 2025) – Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed a bill into law starting the process of officially recognizing gold and silver as legal tender and repealing state taxes on their exchange. However, a last-minute amendment severelly limits the scope of the new law.
Under House Bill 999 (H999), sponsored by Rep. Doug Bankson and Rep. Monique Miller, “gold coin and silver coin” is recognized as legal tender in the state for the “payment of a debt.” The law defines a “coin” as a “round, bar, ingot, or bullion coin, which is valued for its metal content and is stamped or imprinted with its weight and which consists of at least 99.5 percent purity.”
An amendment adopted late in the legislative process stipulates that a gold or silver coin recognized as legal tender “may not be imprinted, stamped, or otherwise marked with any name, symbol, or other information or design, including, but not limited to, any suggestion that such coin has been minted or issued by any government.” This excludes common government-issued bullion coins such as the American Gold Eagle or Canadian Maple Leaf from the definition of legal tender.
According to Citizens for Sound Money, this provision will exclude 90 to 95 percent of the bullion coins held by the public, significantly narrowing the scope of the new law. The organization says it plans to work to fix this restrictive language during the next legislative session.
The House passed H999 by a 113-0 vote. The Senate approved the measure 38-0. With Gov. DeSantis’s signature, the law went into immediate effect. Rules to effectuate the law must be adopted by November 1, 2025, and then ratified by the legislature. Gold and silver will officially be recognized as legal tender effective on July 1, 2026. If the legislature fails to approve the rules, the bill will automatically be repealed on June 30, 2026.
Although limited, the new law still creates a foundation for sound money alternatives to take root in the Sunshine State. State agencies and political subdivisions will be authorized to accept gold or silver for the payment of taxes and fees by electronic transfer. The law includes provisions to facilitate this process, along with regulations to support the use of gold and silver in transactions in the state, establishing requirements for “money services businesses” to offer gold and silver electronic specie accounts.
A post on the Precious Metals Bug forum noted, “The Florida bill seems to have established a clear road map for money service businesses to develop gold and silver electronic specie accounts and payment systems. Once the restriction on what can be used as legal tender bullion is fixed, I imagine there will be a number of companies competing to deliver services in this niche.”
IN PRACTICE
Practically speaking, the new law sets the stage for Floridians to use gold or silver as money rather than as mere investment vehicles.
The passage of H999 takes the 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 sets the stage for the people themselves to undermine the Federal Reserve monopoly by introducing competition into the monetary system.
Beyond the legislative action needed to expand the law, the next step will 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. These notes are now legal tender in Florida under the new law.
New Hampshire also boasts a thriving gold and silver economy. While the state does not officially recognize bullion as legal tender, this has not deterred thousands of residents from using it in private transactions. Because there are no state tax barriers on precious metals, a favorable tax climate – combined with a population willing to embrace sound money – has positioned New Hampshire as another model for others to follow.
GOLD CONTRACT CLAUSE
Beyond the provisions to make gold and silver legal tender, H999 includes language recognizing gold or silver contract clauses.
“A person or an entity, including any governmental entity, may not incur any liability for refusing to offer or accept such legal tender, except as specifically provided for by contract.” [Emphasis added]
In practice, including language acknowledging gold contract clauses means if parties voluntarily agree to be paid, or to pay, in gold and silver coin or bullion, Florida courts could not substitute any other thing, e.g., Federal Reserve Notes, as payment.
The principle behind a gold clause contract is simple. It requires that payment be made in a specific amount of gold or its paper equivalent. For example, a mortgage might stipulate that repayment must be in the form of 30 ounces of gold. Gold clauses protect the parties to a contract from currency debasement and incentivize the use of sound money.
REMOVING TAXES
H999 repeals all sales taxes on “any gold coin or silver coin that is legal tender in this state.” Under the current law, sales tax is not charged on gold and silver transactions above $500. H999 removes that threshold — but only for coins defined as legal tender. Sales tax will continue to be applied on the sale of government-issued bullion coins.
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, states treat gold and silver specie more like money. This supports the use of gold and silver in transactions and breaks 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 most states 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.
