Adventure Ausrama Blog

Everyone thought that bitcoins would remain untraceable and out of the reach of national revenue collections. This belief has proved to be fairyland. The Australian Tax Office now values bitcoins as assets to be included on your yearly income tax form. If you have millions of these things when there value increases you will have to give part of it to the Australian Tax Office (ATO) if you reside in Australia. Don't think that this is the end - it is just the beginning. Other countries are looking at making bitcoins taxable income. BitPos an Australian company which arranges an exchange and purchasing service for people dealing in bitcoins say owners have to pay the Goods and Service Tax (GST) on the full value of coins not just on the fee. This is when buying the actual "currency" itself. Because dealers say bitcoin it is not a currency it opens the door for countries to interpret it as they like. It is possible some jurisdictions will class it as c...

Establish your own country. People have been doing this for decades. They pronounce kingship and plant crowns on their heads to rule in perpetuity. Don't laugh. These people are serious. Such "countries" have currencies made, issue stamps and visas, and even produce constitutions. People can become "citizens" on the Internet. Why do they establish new countries? Some do it because they are fed up with the country they live in, others to highlight an issue of contention. Doing it just for laughs or getting an income from tourism is not uncommon. Recently a meeting of micronations took place at a Sydney university. They discussed their place in The Lonely Planet Guide to Home-Made Nations. The meeting went well. There were Laughs aplenty. Just imagine how the leaders were decked out with flowing robes, scepters and crowns. There is a problem, however. It is an illusion of independence. The "countries" are still part of the larger countries they are...

With the US printing paper dollars by the truckload the American currency cannot remain the world's gold standard. Can something akin to gold be created to act as the measure of value for world trade? China's call for a new stand alone currency for international trade will not work. The difficulties of the Euro has highlighted this. Putting the world's "strong" currencies in a pot with gold then calculating out a value for transactions is also problematical. Wouldn't this be a partial return to the gold standard? The gold standard worked for a long time mainly because is was a scarce commodity and new finds of the mineral were increasing the gold "pot" at about the same rate as the world growth in trade. A new gold standard would probably not work now because there would be a rush to invest in gold companies which could flood the market. This would not solve the problem of nations openly trying to weaken their currency to gain a market edge. Quantita...