“No State shall…make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts.”
~ The United States Constitution, Article I, Section 10
After last week’s hero Sen. Frank Nicely of Tennessee, the natural choice for our next hero is Franklin Sanders. The recent move to change the law in the State of Tennessee, with Senate Bill 251 introduced to remove taxes on precious metal purchases, could not have proceeded without the faithful, patient, and tenacious work of author, speaker, investor, and precious metal expert Franklin Sanders, aka “The Moneychanger.”
Franklin is well known to Solari subscribers as a frequent guest and valued advisor, and indeed the very first Solari Report published in 2008 was a conversation between Catherine and Franklin on “How to Buy & Store Silver & Gold.”
As long as precious metals have sales tax or value-added tax (VAT) on their every transaction, gold and silver cannot be used as community currencies or legal tender. Currently, a process is happening in the United States where states are beginning to both remove the sales tax and create precious metal state depositories (see, for example, in Texas), which will make it easier to use gold and silver in direct money exchange. A state depository also makes it easier for state pension funds and other state capital pools to include gold and silver bullion in their investment portfolios.
For 42 years (!), Franklin Sanders has been fighting this tax and has been lobbying Tennessee legislators to liberate the use of precious metals, for the last decade also working in close cooperation with Sen. Frank Nicely to get this done. The Tennessee Assembly has now approved the bill to remove the sales tax on gold and silver, and the bill (as of early May) awaited the governor’s signature.
Franklin also invented the Silver & Gold Payment Calculator, which The Solari Report made available from his original spreadsheet and put into a website and an app. The Calculator works to help you exchange between gold and silver and more than 150 currencies.
To start a local currency, the most difficult part is to create an organization and the rules by which everybody agrees to begin transacting. With the Silver & Gold Payment Calculator, there is no need for an organization, and there is no need to have formal agreements—you just start doing it. And you can combine with local cash and coin.
It is not easy to imagine the kind of hard work it takes, year after year, plowing the wilderness to bring about the changes that can ultimately return prosperity and freedom to all. Many people do not want to do the hard work of freedom because it is just that—hard work! And yet, if we look at what a few people can accomplish, it is remarkable.
Franklin Sanders deserves our gratitude and recognition as a hero for a lifetime of work achieving changes that will benefit us all.
Related:
Franklin Sanders’ website The Moneychanger
Recommended precious metals company continued by his sons
The Silver & Gold Payment Calculator
Interview between Franklin Sanders (The Moneychanger) and Senator Frank Nicely on “Restoring Freedom in Tennessee”
Interview with Franklin Sanders on the release of the film “Beyond Off Grid”
