Month: January 2022

1. Gold dips as U.S. bond yields edge up, dollar firms  Reuters
2. Gold prices settle lower, but tally a gain for the week  MarketWatch
3. Gold price in neutral territory as U.S. consumers seeing inflation at 4.9% in one year  Kitco NEWS
4. Gold price rises but ₹8400 below its lifetime high. Good opportunity to buy?  Mint
5. Daily Gold News: Friday, Jan. 14 – Gold’s Short-Term Consolidation  FX Empire
6. View Full Coverage on Google News

1. Gold price outlook improves as analysts weigh Fed policy mistake, hot inflation data  Kitco NEWS
2. Gold jumps 1% as dollar dips after Powell testimony  CNBC
3. Powell Sends Smile To Gold  Investing.com
4. Gold futures post highest finish in nearly a week after Powell’s testimony  MarketWatch
5. View Full Coverage on Google News

(Honolulu, HI, USA – January 14, 2022) – After an abrupt ending to the 2021 legislative session, legislators in Hawaii hope to pick up where they left on and eliminate state taxes on the purchase of gold, silver, platinum, and palladium.

Last year, sponsored by Rep. Okimoto (36-R), House Bill 1184 passed out of the House Committee on Economic Development unanimously and received a do pass recommendation from the House Finance Committee.

Without notice, the passage of Biden’s federal coronarvirus relief package halted state legislative sessions all over the country. However, building on last year’s momentum, sound money advocates in Hawaii are hopeful about chances of passage in 2022.

Under current law, Hawaii citizens are discouraged from insuring their savings against the devaluation of the dollar because they are penalized with taxation for doing so. House Bill 1184 removes the disincentives to holding gold and silver for this purpose.

Removing the tax on the purchase of gold and silver coins, bars, and rounds would especially benefit small-time savers and investors, who, unlike the wealthy, have more limited options to obtain precious metals investments. House Bill 1184 would help level the playing field.

Here are a few reasons why House Bill 1184 would benefit Hawaiians and Hawaii:

• Studies have shown that taxing precious metals is an inefficient form of revenue collection. The results of one study involving Michigan show that any precious metals tax proceeds Hawaii gains are likely surpassed by the state revenue lost from conventions, businesses, and economic activity that are driven out of the state.

• 42 states have removed some or all taxes from the purchase of gold and silver. Hawaii currently stands against the vast majority of its peers.

• Taxing precious metals is unfair to certain savers and investors. Gold and silver are held as forms of savings and investment. Hawaii does not tax the purchase of stocks, bonds, ETFs, currencies, and other financial instruments.

• Levying taxes on precious metals is inappropriate. In many states, purchases of computers, shirts, and shoes carry taxes because the consumer is “consuming” the good. Precious metals are inherently held for resale, not “consumption,” making the application of taxes on the purchase of precious metals inappropriate.

• Taxing precious metals is harmful to citizens attempting to protect their assets. Purchasers of precious metals aren’t fatcat investors. Most who buy precious metals do so in small increments as a way of saving money. Precious metals investors are purchasing precious metals as a way to preserve their wealth against the ravages of inflation. Inflation harms the poorest among us, including pensioners, Hawaiians on fixed incomes, wage earners, savers, and more.

In 2016, the state of Louisiana experimented briefly with slapping taxes on precious metals purchases. They quickly reversed course only one year later — and reinstated the exemption on precious metals — because businesses and coin conventions were closing their doors, and state tax revenues.

Meanwhile, 42 states have removed some or all taxes from the purchase of gold and silver. 

The Sound Money Defense League and Money Metals Exchange strongly support and are actively working with lawmakers in Hawaii to ensure passage of this important measure. Tennessee, Mississippi, Kentucky, and Alabama are just a few of the other states fighting their own sound money battles in 2022.

      

(Nashville, TN, USA – January 14, 2022) — After years of several stymied pro-sound money efforts, legislators in Tennessee are feeling confident that 2022 will be the year when citizens can protect their savings without being taxed for purchasing gold and silver.

House Bill 514 and Senate Bill 870, introduced in 2021 by Rep. Gant and Sen. Stevens respectively, are expected to be considered this session. Tennessee hopes to be the 43rd state in the country to allow people to preserve the purchasing power of their money without being hammered by the tax man.

Under current law, Tennessee citizens are discouraged from insuring their savings against the devaluation of the dollar because they are penalized with taxation for doing so. House Bill 514 removes the disincentives to holding gold and silver for this purpose. Here are a few reasons why we strongly urge you to vote YES on House Bill 514:

• Purchasers of precious metals are not “consuming” them, making a sales tax and/or use tax inappropriate in the first place. Precious metals purchasers are holding these metals for resale or exchange, like a currency or investment.
• Taxing gold and silver is a de facto investment penalty on Tennessee citizens (usually of humble means) who seek to hold some of their savings in real assets that are insulated from inflation and financial turmoil. It’s also discriminatory, because purchases of stocks, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs, real estate, and every other financial instrument are not subject to sales tax.
• The exchange of one dollar for four quarters is a nontaxable event. Exchanging dollars for the only form of money mentioned in the U.S. Constitution should not be taxed.
• Taxing the purchase of monetary metals would also undermine Tennessee businesses (and reduce Tennessee state revenues). Many Tennesseans will buy and/or store their precious metals in nearby Alabama, Georgia, Missouri, North Carolina, and Virginia, which do not charge sales tax on precious metals.
• There is a national trend to remove sales taxation from precious metals, with 42 states already having done so in whole or in part. Arkansas, Mississippi, Hawaii, and Maine are expected to consider measures to remove sales taxation from precious metals in the upcoming weeks.
• Studies have shown that states actually lose revenue when they tax the purchase of gold and silver. Washington and Nebraska considered repealing longstanding exemptions on precious metals in their states but legislators realized the major policy error this would entail and the measure didn’t make it out of committee in either state.

Louisiana and Ohio both briefly imposed a sales tax on precious metals recently – but the legislature quickly reversed course after one year when businesses, coin conventions, and state revenues left the state.

That’s why any revenue collected from precious metals sales taxes would almost certainly be surpassed by the tax revenue lost from coin conventions, businesses, and other economic activity leaving the state.

Meanwhile, 42 states have removed some or all taxes from the purchase of gold and silver. Tennessee currently stands against the vast majority of its peers and its neighbors.

The Sound Money Defense League and Money Metals Exchange strongly supports and is actively working with lawmakers in Tennessee to ensure passage of this important measure. Kentucky, Mississippi, Hawaii, and Alabama are just a few of the other states fighting their own sound money battles in 2022.