On Wednesday, the Arizona Senate Finance and Rules Committees will take a look at House Bill 2014 (HB 2014), a piece of legislation that will officially define gold, silver, and other precious metals as legal tender. Under the bill, transactions made in precious metals will be exempted from capital gains taxes. This bill could help to effectively end the dollar’s monopoly as legal tender in Arizona.
In 2011, Utah became the first state in over 80 years to create such legislation by passing the Utah Legal Tender Act, which enjoys its own–very scant–Wikipedia article. In furtherance of this policy, Utah Rep. Ken Ivory (R-West Jordan) introduced Utah House Bill 224 (HB 224) on January 27, 2017.
Regarding HB224, 10th Amendment Center Communications Director Mike Maharrey writes:
Specifically, HB224 would authorize the investment of public funds in specie legal tender held in a commercial specie repository. Under existing code, ‘specie legal tender’ means gold or silver coin and bullion. ‘Commercial specie repository’ means an institution that holds or receives deposits of specie legal tender that is located within the state. Practically speaking, passage would give the state the option to hold funds in gold and silver instead of Federal Reserve notes.
Why is this such a big deal? Because legalizing the use of gold, silver, and other precious metals evens the playing field for alternative forms of money to directly compete with the dollar–thus ending its legal monopoly on money. By pegging the dollar to precious metals, it effectively limits government’s ability to inflate the currency.
This Wednesday, Ron Paul will be in Arizona to support HB 2014. The former congressman and anti-Fed icon will speak to the Arizona Senate Finance Committee at 9:00 a.m. He will follow his testimony up with an anti-Fed rally at noon at the Arizona state capitol in Phoenix.
If HB 2014 passes, residents of Arizona will be able to enjoy a certain level of protection if the value of the dollar were to collapse. Upon its passage, it will be interesting to see if other states begin to follow suit as the economy continues to grind to a halt.
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Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity
10th Amendment Center Blog
Source: Liberty Weekly