Friday, July 23, 2010

Government Moves to Tax, Track All Gold Transactions

"...Essentially, any transaction over $600 will be logged buy the dealer, whether you buy $600 or more worth of gold, or sell it back to the dealer.

Since the transaction will require a social security number (or federal employer identification number) to be logged at the time of sale or purchase, this new legislation gives the government the capability to track every single precious metals purchase (over $600) in the country.

While the legislation implies that taxation of such transactions to generate additional revenue is the goal, precious metals buyers, who generally like to remain anonymous, will most certainly see that the real issue in this instance is not taxation, but the ability to track who owns the gold.

When the US government ran into money problems in the 1930’s, Franklin Roosevelt confiscated all gold held in the hands of the public, and those who refused to give up their gold were either fined or imprisoned. Incidentally, the communists in Russia and eastern Europe did the same thing throughout the 20th century, but those penalties went a bit further than just imprisonment.

With a US dollar currency crisis and a US federal government debt crisis looming, many precious metals investors are concerned that similar government action may be instituted in the future.

Though it has been argued by many that confiscation in the US would not be necessary or feasible, the 1099 legislation certainly makes it easier to identify who has the gold.

Of course, those who purchase prior to January 1, 2012 will be “off the books,” until that time when they attempt to sell their gold to a registered dealer who will be required to log the transaction.

There’s a reason economist Marc Faber advised clients that they should hold their gold outside of the US.

Historically, when the economic or political shit hits the fan, governments have always moved to seize precious metals from the citizenry. The Nazis did it in World War II. The US did it in the 1930’s. The Bolsheviks did it in 1917. Rome did it by removing 90% of the silver from their coinage..."

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