Legal, illegal or extralegal?
Petros At FreeLab
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Setting up a complementary currency we need to answer a question of legality. The system we possibly design and implement may be:
LEGAL -- designed to fit the current set of state law rules, ready to be reviewed and controlled by the state and accepting the government sovereignty.
ILLEGAL -- designed to work without and against current law, not taking into account any cooperation with the state.
EXTRALEGAL -- designed to operate mostly in the gaps of current legal system. Being non-governable by design. Setting up de facto standards, which can be later incorporated in the legal systems -- if the state accepts it. It means that one of goals of the system is to be eventually legal -- through lobbying and shaping the state policy and law changes.
So, let's have a chat about pros and cons here.
Ian Snaith Thu 2 Jul 2015 1:15PM
On Tax, here's the UK Tax authorities' approach to Bitcoin https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/revenue-and-customs-brief-9-2014-bitcoin-and-other-cryptocurrencies/revenue-and-customs-brief-9-2014-bitcoin-and-other-cryptocurrencies
And here's the approach of the US IRS: http://www.irs.gov/irb/2014-16_IRB/ar12.html
And here is the UK Government's general plan for it's approach to digital currencies: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/414040/digital_currencies_response_to_call_for_information_final_changes.pdf
Matthew Slater · Mon 9 Mar 2015 2:27PM
One approach is to say that the system is just a way to facilitate exchange. In a mutual credit there IS NO CURRENCY. only account keeping which enables people to know how much each has given and received. The question then becomes, do the accounts have any legal meaning, especially since the unit of value is subjective and they constitute a private agreement; and on what basis does the government think it can tax exchange. These questions should a while to resolve, a good while.