Arizona Tribune - Mississippi Lawmakers Summarily Reject Three Big Government "Transactional Gold" Bills

Mississippi joins a growing chorus of states including Wyoming, New Jersey, West Virginia, Michigan, Kansas, Iowa, and Idaho that have rejected similar bills because they would significantly increase regulatory burdens on businesses, damage free market competition, and undermine personal privacy.

House Bills 1440, 1530, and 1531 would have created a complex and bureaucratic public-private partnership between the State of Mississippi and a small group of favored vendors to launch a government-backed precious metals purchasing, payment, and storage service - directly competing with private businesses while expanding government control over the personal finances of Mississippians.

Here are some of the concerns policymakers, businesses, and investors have raised about these transactional gold bills:

-Gold Payment App Ploy to Obtain Special Government Blessing and Privilege - The public-private partnership concept is backed by individuals connected with gold payment apps. Even though these apps are already available for use in every state in the country, they desire the imprimatur of state government endorsement to help attract new customers and overcome their competition.

-Vendor Tax Favoritism, Scare Tactics to Pry Customers Away From Other Businesses- Promoters have made false and extremely irresponsible marketing claims that customers of a state-selected vendor would somehow be exempt from federal capital gains taxes... or that members of the public could face confiscation of their precious metals if they did not patronize the state-partnered gold vendor.

-New Burdensome Regulations - Some variations of these bills would also force hundreds of small businesses (e.g. coin shops, mints) to register as Money Services Businesses or seek some other license, subjecting them to new stringent regulatory and examination burdens for no discernible benefit while imposing elaborate bank-like signup processes on customers. State regulators would be forced to take responsibility for overseeing the gold market and payment activities about which they lack experience or expertise.

Some other reasons lawmakers have been pushing back against these proposals include:

-Buying, Selling, Storing, and Transacting Gold Is Already Legal- Private services to buy, sell, store, and transact using gold/silver are already legal and widely available. There is no need to involve the state.

-Lack of Industry Expertise & Understanding of Negative Business Impacts - These public-private partnership bills have been drafted with little apparent knowledge of precious metal depositories and dealers, the forms of precious metals that are available in the marketplace, and industry physical market practices for gold and silver coins, bars, and rounds. Most importantly, they have been drafted without sensitivity to the negative impact they would have on in-state businesses when there is no apparent need for new regulations.

-Absence of Public Demand- There is little to no demand among the public to pay taxes to the government in gold or silver, or for the government to become further involved in the purchase, use, sale, or storage of the metals (it's usually quite the opposite... the public does not want the government involved with their gold.)

"Mississippi lawmakers were right to reject any proposal to create a government 'transactional gold' boondoggle. Precious metals owners understand that inflation, debt, and a distorted monetary system are born of government mismanagement; proposing a partial government takeover of the gold industry is both dangerous and unwise," said Jp Cortez, Executive Director of the Sound Money Defense League.

"The Sound Money Defense League supports principled steps that would remove barriers to precious metals ownership, we're eager to work with lawmakers who desire to enact prudent sound money reforms," Cortez concluded.

According to the League, an effective and logical next step for Mississippi on the sound money policy front would be to eliminate capital gains taxes on sales of precious metals, which 14 states currently do not impose, or to start building a state gold reserve to protect the state's balance sheet.

The League worked successfully with Mississippi lawmakers in 2023 to eliminate the sales tax on purchases of gold and silver in the Magnolia State.

About Sound Money Defense League
The Sound Money Defense League is a non-partisan public policy group working nationally to restore sound money at the state and federal level and publisher of the Sound Money Index and Sound Money Review

CONTACT: [email protected]

SOURCE: Sound Money Defense League

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire

M.King--AT