In this tumultuous market environment, alternative investments are proving popular. But the 2025 Virginia General Assembly came very close to foolishly returning the sales tax on some of the most popular: physical gold and silver and legal tender coins. 

Ending this tax on money ten years ago was the subject of one of my earliest Bacon’s Rebellion columns. Virginia is one of almost 40 states that grant full sales tax exemptions on these very portable assets. These items are so easy to ship that returning the tax (7% in some locations) would create a huge incentive to buy them in another state. 

The bills I helped shepherd through in 2015 and 2017 for some Virginia numismatics firms had sunsets, later extended but set for removal on July 1, 2025. Two bills this year to extend the sunset failed. House Bill 2336 was killed in subcommittee and Senate Bill 1321 couldn’t even get a hearing in the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee.

A reprieve was granted in the budget, however.  A provision at the back extends the tax exemption one year, through June 2026. This is just another example of the growing abuse of the budget process to make policy decisions.

What was going to be column saying you had a few months to rush to your Virginia dealer is now a column about 15 more months of opportunity. Finding the failed legislation gave me an excuse to call my previous client, who told me in the past decade the exemption really did boost Virginia sales and bring back customers who had been using out-of-state dealers.

He also told me that Virginia Beach has added a new company with a large staff that does the grading of investment level coins, and a publishing firm that produces numismatic trade publications. Without question, he said, Virginia is collecting way more taxes on these businesses than it did when the sales tax drove away customers. One day a national trade show will come and produce a bonanza of cash, but returning the sales tax will scotch that.

Add the “tax on money” to the growing list of questions we need to put to the 2025 candidates for governor. 

-SDH