Here in Australia we have a potential nuclear weapon sitting in the Commonwealth Banking Act of 1959 which is continually amended but has an entire Part (IV) relating to the confiscation of gold by the Reserve Bank of Australia. It's more or less based on Roosevelt's 1933 Executive Order but goes even further, demanding anyone holding more than a nominal proscribed amount of gold immediately transfer it to the RBA.
It only needs a proclamation from the Governor General for that part of the Act to immediately come into force.
Another oddity here is Australian issued sovereigns have been out of circulation since we finally stopped producing them in 1931 although they have never been officially demonetised from being worth a pound.
Today we rely on the Currency Act of 1965 and in its current schedule we still have 22ct gold coins of $200, $100, $50 and $25 and sterling silver coins of $10 as official legal tender, although virtually nobody around today has seen them.
Nevertheless a determination from the Australian Tax Office has been made that all of those precious metals coins issued by the Royal Australia Mint (and subsequently Perth Mint) are subject to capital gains tax and attract GST/VAT, simply because they are not "pure" gold. On the other hand, 999 fine or greater bullion coins do NOT attract GST.
It's even more weird in that in 1966, our first year of decimal currency and before the spot price of silver took off, we had a 50 cent coins in 800 fine silver, but they *have* been removed from the schedule.
Great piece Alasdair.
Here in Australia we have a potential nuclear weapon sitting in the Commonwealth Banking Act of 1959 which is continually amended but has an entire Part (IV) relating to the confiscation of gold by the Reserve Bank of Australia. It's more or less based on Roosevelt's 1933 Executive Order but goes even further, demanding anyone holding more than a nominal proscribed amount of gold immediately transfer it to the RBA.
It only needs a proclamation from the Governor General for that part of the Act to immediately come into force.
Another oddity here is Australian issued sovereigns have been out of circulation since we finally stopped producing them in 1931 although they have never been officially demonetised from being worth a pound.
Today we rely on the Currency Act of 1965 and in its current schedule we still have 22ct gold coins of $200, $100, $50 and $25 and sterling silver coins of $10 as official legal tender, although virtually nobody around today has seen them.
Nevertheless a determination from the Australian Tax Office has been made that all of those precious metals coins issued by the Royal Australia Mint (and subsequently Perth Mint) are subject to capital gains tax and attract GST/VAT, simply because they are not "pure" gold. On the other hand, 999 fine or greater bullion coins do NOT attract GST.
It's even more weird in that in 1966, our first year of decimal currency and before the spot price of silver took off, we had a 50 cent coins in 800 fine silver, but they *have* been removed from the schedule.
Thank you, Alasdair.
James Turk's "King World News" interview this week was interesting.
Is silver underperforming because insiders are expecting a gold re-valuation?
What would silver be expected to do if gold were re-valued, please?
"Is The World About To Witness A Shocking Gold Revaluation?"
https://kingworldnews.com/is-the-world-about-to-witness-a-shocking-gold-revaluation/