Re: the cost of untracability?

[Jim Gillogly <jim@ACM.ORG>]

jim bell <jimbell@pacifier.com> writes:
>FWIW, I think that there is no capital-gains-type tax on currency 
>conversions.  In other words, if I take dollars and buy yen today, and the 

I bounced this off a CPA, who said she would be very suprised if this is
really the case: in general the IRS considers increases in wealth to be
taxable, and unless there's a specific exclusion for currency transactions
that she doesn't know about, she suspects this is not the case.  As a
conceptual counterexample she points out that you are responsible for any
profit you make from selling your car for more than you pay for it (but,
as you might expect, you don't get to take a loss if you sell it for less).

>interconvert rate changes and I convert back and make a "profit," that is 
>not considered income.  If that's the case, then ecash has an excellent 
>precedent behind it to avoid any taxes on interest, especially if that
>interest is, in effect, paid by increasing the inherent value of the
>currency.

My tame CPA also volunteered the information that the IRS is very interested
and concerned about how they're going to capture transaction information for
electronic transactions, and they do think it's in their bailiwick... she's
read some articles on it.

	Jim Gillogly
	17 Astron S.R. 1996, 19:52