(Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) - Lawmakers in the Oklahoma House have overwhelmingly approved a measure, 81-10, to eliminate all tax liability on gold and silver, and would provide specific performance protections for contracts denominated in gold and silver.
Introduced by Representative Cody Maynard, House Bill 3027 would also reaffirm gold and silver as legal tender. The bill will now be considered by a senate committee.
In recent years, legislation to remove capital gains taxes and other taxes currently applied to the monetary metals progressed through several state legislatures
Here are a few reasons why slapping an income tax on the monetary metals is wrong, and why these bills are good public policy:
-Current Oklahoma law assesses taxes on imaginary gains. Under current law, a taxpayer who sells precious metals may end up with a capital “gain” in terms of Federal Reserve Notes. This capital “gain” is not necessarily a real gain, it’s often a nominal gain that results from the inflation created by the Federal Reserve and the attendant decline in the dollar’s purchasing power.
Yet this nominal gain is taxed at the federal level – and, because Oklahoma uses federal adjusted gross income (AGI) as a starting point for Oklahoma income calculations, this nominal gain is taxed again by the state.
-Inflation harms the poorest among us.
Inflation is a regressive tax. The hardest hit are wage earners, savers, and pensioners on fixed incomes – as well as those who own few or no tangible assets.
-Removal of capital gains taxes is the next logical step for Oklahoma to support sound money.
Investments in precious metals coins and bullion are rightly exempt from Oklahoma's sales tax. Neutralizing Oklahoma's income tax treatment of the monetary metals would remove the last major disincentive in the Sooner State that stands against the ownership and use of the monetary metals.
More than a dozen states have introduced pro-sound money legislation in 2024 so far, including Alaska, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.
Image by Vectorportal.com, CC BY
Jp Cortez is the Executive Director for the Sound Money Defense League, a non-partisan, national public policy group working to restore sound money at the state and federal level, and lead author of the Sound Money Index.
