The US mint still puts out gold coins that are legal tender. They are mostly sold to collectors but they are still legal tender. Got that?

In fact, if you try to pass of a forged coin as legal tender the full weight of the law can come down on you regardless of whether the gold content is the same as this case proves.

So what happens if you try to pay your employees with legal tender gold coins and report their income based on the face value of the coins (i.e. the amount that the coin is legal tender for)? The full weight of the government comes down on you for tax evasion because the coins are worth more then the amount they are legal tender for. Thankfully, we still have jury system in this country so the company in question did not get convicted.

Still, I think that it is disturbing that they only got off because of a hung jury. In my opinion, it should have been a straight acquittal. How can you make something legal tender and then demand that they value it according to some other standard for tax purposes?

Granted, the construction company that was doing this was trying to help its workers avoid taxes on their wages. But lots of companies use more dubious methods then this to avoid paying taxes and get away with because it is legal. The way that most companies account for stock options would be just one example. Why pick on the blue collar companies?

If you don’t want them reporting their wages according to the face value, don’t make it legal tender. How hard of a fix is that?