From The WTF Are The Repubs Thinking File:

[unhappycamper]

Georgia Legislator's Bill Would Require Taxes Be Paid In Gold And Silver
The Huffington Post | Nick Wing First Posted: 12-30-10 10:17 AM | Updated: 12-30-10 03:54 PM

Bobby Franklin, a Republican state legislator from Georgia, has introduced a new piece of legislation that, if passed, would force Georgians to pay their taxes in gold and silver coins.

Here's what his Constitutional Tender Act sets forth:

Pre-1965 silver coins, silver eagles, and gold eagles shall be the exclusive medium which the state shall use to make any payments whatsoever to any person or entity, whether private or governmental. Such coins shall be the exclusive medium which the state shall accept from any person or entity as payment of any obligation to the state including, without limitation, the payment of taxes; provided, however, that such coins and other forms of currency may be used in all other transactions within the state upon mutual consent of the parties of any such transaction.

ThinkProgress argues such an abrupt return to the gold or silver standard could stagnate the tax-payment process:

Were Franklin's bill ever to become law it would have immediate and catastrophic consequences for Georgia's economy. Among other things, the U.S. Mint simply does not make very many gold and silver coins -- the Mint has even suspended sales of precious medal coins when demand rises above very low levels -- so it is unlikely that enough coins even exist to allow Georgia taxpayers to pay more than a fraction of their tax obligations if they are required to do so in U.S. minted gold or silver.

[opihimoimoi]

1. Brilliant.....Bobby for President......

[Volaris]

2. While there is SOOOOOO much to say about the rank stupidity of such a thing,

Its New Years Eve, and I just don't care about the finer and in some ways, very beneficial points of having a Fiat Currency rather than using coins that ARE NOT EVEN MINTED ANYMORE........24 more months of this kind of laughable, but rage-inducing, nonsense.....grrrrrrrrrr...its O.K. brain, soon it will be time to have a drink....
Happy New Year All

[Capitalocracy]

23. Seriously, the best you can do by tying down currency to ONE commodity

is to create false scarcity and cripple the ability of a growing population to benefit from a growing economy.

But to put it simply, these people are out of their goddamn minds.

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Lasher]

4. It's the Contracts Clause of the Constitution

Section 10, Clause 1 of the Constitution says,

No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_One_of_the_United_States_Constitution#Clause_1:_Contracts_Clause

However,

The United States Supreme Court, with Salmon P. Chase (former Secretary of the Treasury) ruled the practice of legal tender unconstitutional in Hepburn v. Griswold in 1869, but later reversed its ruling within a month when confusion in the markets caused everybody not to accept "Legal Tender" note at all. The Court held that paper money, even that not backed by specie such as the United States Notes can be legal tender, in the Legal Tender Cases, ranging from 1871 to 1884.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_tender#United_States

Franklin's "Pre-1965" language is a direct challenge to the Coinage Act of 1965. He thinks his opinion is more compelling than standing SCOTUS interpretation of the Commerce Clause, and that his state Constitutional Tender Act can override a federal statute.

[NutmegYankee]

7. The meaning of that clause is different.

It means a state cannot coin money or produce currency, and it cannot use another method to get around that prohibition.

The Federal Government on the other hand can. The state of Georgia cannot override that, which is why the bill would never take effect.

[BlueJazz]

5. Fuck. Once again, some dumb Ass Republican comes up with an idea...

...that ranks .00000 on the intelligence scale.
I wonder how some of them can even walk and breathe at the same time.

[NutmegYankee]

6. And yet my Federal Reserve Note says:

This Note is Legal tender for all debts, public and private. If the party seeking to have the debt satisfied refuses the legal tender, the debt is gone.

[SheilaT]

11. I always wonder how stores

can get away with refusing to take any bill larger than a 20.

[Statistical]

14. Because there is no such requirement to accept US currency. It is an urban legend.

https://ustreas.gov/education/faq/currency/legal-tender.shtml

Think about it this way if entities were forced to accept currency for all transactions or it voided a debt (as indicated upthread), Warren Buffet could decide to pay off a bond with dumptrucks of pennies and if the counterparty refused then the debt is erased. Obviously this is a false claim.

The language merely indicates the bill CAN BE USED as payment for all debts not that any entity HAS to accept it.

An entity could accept the following as payment as be legit.
* only credit cards
* only gold
* only ACH (direct electronic fund transfer)
* private currency
* ammunition
* no currency (only directly bartered goods)

[SheilaT]

20. Okay, so the part about voiding the debt

is urban legend, but what about the part where it says that the note is legal tender for all debts, public and private. It's one thing if you don't have change (I've been faced with that situation when someone tries to pay with a $100 bill shortly after the opening of the business day and we haven't yet taken in enough cash to make change), but any decent-sized store should have the change-making ability a couple of hours after opening. Or, what if the charges amount to, say $45.00 and you have a fifty dollar bill? How can they legally refuse it?

[Statistical]

21. Of course they can

Take my mortgage for example. Cash is not accepted. I can pay by electronic fund transfer or check.
Another example would be drinks on most airlines. They only accept credit cards.

No entity (person or entity) is required to accept US currency. Period. Of course entities which make doing business difficult tend to not get as much business so the free market has some say. Still there is no law that requires accepting currency or accepting any type of currency.

[SheilaT]

24. Paying your mortgage by cash would

undoubtedly be pretty tricky, since the place that accepts your payment probably isn't one you can just walk into, unlike say a grocery store.

I haven't flown in more than three years, and did not know that airlines had stopped accepting cash on board. Again, I don't understand how they can legally refuse it, especially if you have the correct amount. What do those people who refuse to carry credit cards do?

[Statistical]

25. "Again, I don't understand how they can legally refuse it"

They can refuse it because there is no law that requires it.

It would be like saying I don't understand how some people can legally not give to charity. Until there is a lot requiring people to give to charity not doing so isn't illegal.

"What do those people who refuse to carry credit cards do?"
Take their business elsewhere, or lobby to have laws enacted which REQUIRES accepting cash.

[SheilaT]

27. This is despite the fact that

the bills themselves say "This note is legal tender for all debts public and private"?

added on edit: The not giving to charity isn't a very good analogy. I'm focussing on what's printed on our currency.

[Statistical]

29. There IS NO LAW. The link I provided to treasury.gov even explains that.

The sentence simply indicates the currency CAN be used for any debt. Period. It isn't a requirement. That is no requirement to accept cash, there is no consequence to do so.

The money also says "In God we trust". It doesn't prohibit atheists from using the currency.

[Statistical]

12. That is not true.

[Paper Roses]

8. Laughable. Stupid. Dumb. Impossible. n/t

[babylonsister]

9. Wow. Just wow. nt

[Jester Messiah]

10. Well, he's certainly not "elitist"

See repubs? This is what you get when you idolize people with iq's lower than their shoe size.

[butterfly77]

13. Crazy republicons ,,,

I can't wait for this week :popcorn:

[sakabatou]

15. WTF indeed

[Odin2005]

16. This is what happens when you elect dumbfucks.

[jmowreader]

17. Y'all in Georgia can consider yourself fortunate

Last I checked, Bobby Franklin has not written a book on why the income tax is unconstitutional, refused to pay taxes of any kind for so long he is in hock to the government to the tune of over $700,000, or went into the state school system's forest land (on which they grow timber which is sold to support the school system) and cut 8000 board feet of timber to build his house--then marked the check he sent to the state school board "voluntary donation" so it couldn't be applied to his bill.

OTOH, MY state legislator, who also authored a bill calling for taxes to be made payable in silver coin (however, Phil Hart wanted to mint a coin in Idaho from Idaho silver to use in the payment of said debts), did all the shit I listed in the first paragraph.

Both of 'em are stupid, but the one in Georgia at least isn't criminal.

[DCKit]

18. K&R for the woo-woo overload in this thread. nt

[MisterP]

19. that worked SO well in 1836

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specie_Circular

[Capitalocracy]

22. Fun. That's going to last like a day.

And it's going to be a very, very expensive day.

[mwooldri]

26. What useless legislation and unenforceable.

It says that silver/gold coins shall be "the exclusive medium which the state shall accept from any person or entity" for paying taxes "provided, however, that such coins ***and*** other forms of currency may be used in all other transactions within the state upon mutual consent of the parties of any such transaction." (bolding and emphasis mine)

So if Wal-Mart refuses to accept Gold Eagles as payment for goods and services, and they have stores in Georgia, then this Constitutional Tender Act appears to be null and void to me. If some entities in GA only accept credit cards as forms of payment, this nullifies the act.

In other words, I read this act as "if everyone accepts payment in silver and gold coins in the State of Georgia, then the State must accept them as payment for taxes".

I guess the author of this legislation is planning on the Federal Reserve going down in flames (or worse).

[Duer 157099]

28. What are "precious medal coins" anyway?

:shrug: