Government Confiscates Your Gold

[Frizzers]

This has been a recurring theme in some of the domesday threads on the site, so I made an enquiry with goldmoney, the essence of which is pasted here:

2. Let's just say we have a nightmare scenario in the future like the 1930s, where the US government compulsorily confiscated the gold of its people. As you are based in Jersey, but your gold is stored in London, could the UK government confiscate the gold I have with you, if it wanted?

I received this reply:

2. Your gold is stored in London, England, but the vault operator does not know the name of any customer because the ownership records are in the Channel Islands. England has a longstanding history of respecting individual property rights and has never confiscated private property. Whether this arrangement achieves your objective we cannot say, but we believe that it is a useful and well designed arrangement that combines customer privacy and safety with convenience and ease of use.

Also please note that all customer records are kept safe and secure in our office and servers in Jersey, Channel Islands, which even though it is small and not well known is a 800+ year old sovereign country. Jersey has become a major financial center because it relies upon Anglo-Saxon common law, which puts property rights at the forefront. We consider privacy to be an important property right. See our Privacy Policy, http://goldmoney.com/en/privacy.html.

Thought some of you goldbugs would have been interested.

[Guest Bart of Darkness]

Good post Frizzers, thanks for taking to trouble to ask this question to Goldline.

The thing is, we would probably have plenty of warning that things were getting bad enough that the government were considering some sort of confiscation (especially if you visit this site ), giving you ample time to make any arrangements you might feel were necessary.

[Unexpected]

Good post Frizzers, thanks for taking to trouble to ask this question to Goldline.

The thing is, we would probably have plenty of warning that things were getting bad enough that the government were considering some sort of confiscation (especially if you visit this site ), giving you ample time to make any arrangements you might feel were necessary.

Good point but if the gold price were rising strongly at the time as it probably would be, it might be a hard choice to sell up (to prevent your gold being confiscated) knowing you would be losing out.

[Guest Bart of Darkness]

Good point but if the gold price were rising strongly at the time as it probably would be, it might be a hard choice to sell up (to prevent your gold being confiscated) knowing you would be losing out.

This is true.

I'm also wondering about the prospect of a "windfall tax" if gold were to reach the dizzy heights some have predicted. I can understand how Gordon Brown does it with the oil companies, he taxes their profits. If you leave you gold wherever it is and don't sell, would you be safe from such a tax (until a new chancellor or new government arrived with different ideas)

[PMTension]

What do people think are the chances of Gordon Brown bringing back the VAT on gold purchases which he abolished around 1996?

[Frank Mason]

Good post Frizzers, thanks for taking to trouble to ask this question to Goldline.

The thing is, we would probably have plenty of warning that things were getting bad enough that the government were considering some sort of confiscation (especially if you visit this site ), giving you ample time to make any arrangements you might feel were necessary.

Minor nit....

It is GoldMoney NOT Goldline. These are two different services, I believe Goldline allows you to take delivery of bullion etc

Regards

Frank

[oracle]

What do people think are the chances of Gordon Brown bringing back the VAT on gold purchases which he abolished around 1996?

...erm,about the same as the lettings deregulation in the early 90's.

...it will happen but only when the government can cream enough cgt out of the more naive investors.

this is why THIS budget will be very unpleasant to the general homeowner,and amateur BTL.

the pro's are already out or have complex tax loopholes they can exploit.....mr+mrs smith and their future pension are up sh1t creek.

[malco]

I suspect what you could do in the 1930s USA - at a time when there were still plenty of Civil War veterans alive and the states was a completely different country with completely different expectations - is not necessarily what you could do today in the USA or UK. People are bolshier now. At that time if a government said something people felt they had to obey. We've had the beatnik era since then. If they tried the same stunt today they'd get a revolt. In the USA you'd just get a big increase in the population of Montana and Wyoming, and a big increase in gun sales!

The state interferes so much more in daily life now than then... there weren't more than a handful of traffic lights then, let alone all the rest of the army of petty bottomdants that our taxes pay for to pry on us nowadays. In many ways petty bureaucracy is out of control (look at H&S regulation strangling the railways). People have a lot less tolerance for being pushed around by governments now. This is good and bad; good in keeping some reign on the sods, bad if you face something like Peak Oil or Global Warming and some discipline is necessary, but cannot be applied.

[Guest Bart of Darkness]

Minor nit....

It is GoldMoney NOT Goldline. These are two different services, I believe Goldline allows you to take delivery of bullion etc

Regards

Frank

Slight discombobulation on my part.