SS/SCS/SB 735 - This act modifies and creates new provisions relating to the sole purpose of regulating the use of gold and silver.INCOME TAXATION ON GOLD AND SILVER SPECIE (Section 143.121)
Current law exempts all purchases of bullion and investment coins from all state and local sales taxes. This act additionally exempts from state income tax the portion of capital gain on the sale or exchange of gold and silver specie that are otherwise included in the taxpayer's federal adjusted gross income.
LEGAL TENDER (Section 408.010)
The act creates the "Constitutional Money Act" and declares that specie legal tender and electronic currency, as those terms are defined in the act, shall be accepted as payment for all public debts and may be received as payment for all private debts contracted for in the state of Missouri, in the discretion of the receiving entity.
The Director of the Department of Revenue is required to promulgate rules on the methods of acceptance of specie legal tender as payment for any debt, tax, fee, or obligation owed. Costs incurred in the course of verification of the weight and purity of any specie during any such transaction shall be borne by the receiving entity.
Except as expressly provided by contract, no person or entity shall be required to use specie legal tender or electronic currency in the payment of any debt and nothing in this act shall prohibit the use of federal reserve notes in the payment of any debt.
The act permits any entity doing business in this state to, upon request by an employee, compensate its employees, in full or in part, in the dollar equivalent specie legal tender either in physical or in electronic transfer form. Any entity choosing to compensate its employees in specie legal tender shall be responsible for verifying the weight and purity of any physical specie legal tender before compensating employees.
Under no circumstance shall the state of Missouri or any department, agency, court, political subdivision, or instrumentality thereof:
· Seize from any person any specie legal tender or electronic currency that is owned by such person, except as otherwise provided by law. Any person whose specie legal tender or electronic currency is seized in violation of this provision shall have a cause of action in a court of competent jurisdiction, with any successful such action resulting in the award of attorney's fees;
· Enforce or attempt to enforce any federal acts, laws, executive orders, administrative orders, rules, regulations, statutes, or ordinances infringing on the right of a person to keep and use specie legal tender and electronic currency as provided in this act;
· Restrict in any way the ability of a person or financial institution to acquire specie legal tender and electronic currency or use specie legal tender and electronic currency in transactions; or
· Enact any law discriminating or favoring one means of legal tender in the course of a transaction over another means of legal tender.
This act is substantially similar to provisions in the perfected SS/SCS/SB 835 (2024) and the perfected SS/SCS/SB 100 (2023).
SCOTT SVAGERA