If you were in charge of creating a currency for a country, what would you choose for denominations (e.g. cents, dimes, puffins, shillings), designs, sizes, composition, worth/value (i.e. to put things in context, say, in terms of US$, gold or silver?), etc.?
I would have one multi-denominational plasticized note........................................I. O. EWE _________ Chris
Stick with the current US system, but with coin denominations of 1, 5, 18, and 25 cents. (The 1-5-18-25 system is optimal for making change.) More seriously, I'd drop cents and nickels, and have coins denominated 10 cents, 50 cents, $1, and $2.50, and bills running $10-50-100-500. Maybe leave in the $20 for old times' sake, or include eagle and double-eagle coins in place of the $10 bill.
Only Pennies! (Jk of course, that would be a mess.) I don't know what I would do, I'll have to think about it.
Corgi based decimal coins... 1 Corglet = 1 Corgi 1 Cardigan = 5 Corgi 1 Pembroke = 20 Corgi 1 Welsh = 50 Corgi 1 Derp = 100 Corgi 2 Derp = 200 Corgi 5 Derp = 500 Corgi 10 Derp = 1000 Corgi 20 Derp = 2000 Corgi 50 Derp = 5000 Corgi 100 Derp = 10000 Corgi
I would basically do this except a $2 bill instead of a $2.50 one. As an interim step, make all one cent coins worth 5 cents, stop minting nickels, and give out specs for $1, $2, and $5 coins but only continue minting the $1 coin. That way vending operators only need change once. Discontinue the dollar bill. Then slowly phase out $2 and $5 in place of coins as the situation dictated. Eventually drop the "now copper plated zinc" 5 cent pieces. As for the subject matter, amend the Constitution to prohibit any politician from being on coinage. Either famous americans or lady liberty should ever be on our money, not self serving politicians.
Medoraman, I wrote my first answer before reading yours, but as I read it, I found it to be virtually the same as what I'd written. Gosh, you're a smart guy like me!
United States. 1,5,10,25,50 & $1 coins all in 95% copper & copper nickel go back to drapped bust,capped bust,seated liberty,barber & walking liberty designs for all denoms (4-5) per year. EX: 2015 1,5,10,25,50 & $1 all five designs. Leave the paper money the same but mix it up every couple years with new faces/portraits of all past presidents (4-5) per year. EX 2015: Washington,Adams,Jefferson,Madison,Lincoln on the $1,$2,$5,$10,$20,$50,$100.
.05, .10, .20, .50, 1.00, 2.00, and 5.00 coins. $20, $50, $100, $500, $1,000 bills. No more single cents or $10 bills. No more actual persons represented on coins or bills. Only symbols.
My only cessation to the thought of getting rid of the penny is that taxes will be assessed at rates to coincide with the denomination of nickels. Instead of 6% you would pay 10%. That would give them 8% to waste.
Then how are we charged 7.75% sales tax in my locality? My grocery store has some 'splainin' to do, because I've never gotten a quarter-cent in my change. By the way, even if taxes have to be "assessed at rates to coincide with the denomination" of coins that circulate, how much tax are you charged when you buy an item for 25 cents?
It is always rounded up to the next cent. If you buy a dollar's worth you pay 8 cents. Two dollars, 16 cents. If you go to the store and buy a dollar's worth and there are no pennies then you would be charged a dime. Two dollars would be twenty cents. Edit to add: I don't know about all states but usually at the end of the month the state charges the business for taxes on gross sales for the month. The leftover amount that you paid is the business owners to keep. Call it handling charges.
Since populations appear to becoming more diverse and relatively uneducated, dealing with a fiat currency that hasn't "real" (i.e. intrinsic/internationally renown) value, we might consider a K.I.S.S. currency. The currency would be based on the decimal system, unnamed, as people generally hardly can agree on the names of their countries currency units, much less those of other countries. The smallest unit would simply have the country of origin (e.g. UK, US, CAN, MEX, RUS, etc.), and a numerical 1 on both sides, the size of our smallest current coin, lead (aluminum) colored. 3 larger coins having 5, 10, and 50 would also be produced respectively sized to our next 3 larger coins, with respective Copper, Silver, and conductive plated Gold coloring, on an aluminum? base (giving politicians "a bone") The folding currency would all be of the same dimensions, in values of 100, 500, 1000, and 5000, having the same respective to value, 4 base metal colors of aluminum, copper, silver, gold. Again, the values would be identically printed on both sides. There currently are proprietary covering which will allow paper currency to circulate for multiples of existing "sheets". The respective national "Mint" facilities can produce all of the various coinage et al, that "collectors" desire, with whatever political designs that are demanded by the purchasing public, who will have some choice, as in postal products. I believe this might eliminate some of the ideocratic products, mandated to production, without a generally accepting consumer.. JMHO
Yes and no. Stores charge based upon actual sale, and do remit based upon total sales. However, stores round down sales tax just as much as they round up, the the difference between the two methods is effectively nothing. I have prepared and filed these returns for 20+ years sir. It's not "always rounded up to the next cent", it's "always rounded to the NEAREST cent, either up or down". That is state law in every state that has instituted sales tax.
Sounds like someone's an accountant, or a "tax specialist" for some company(?) My wife is an accountant and worked as a "tax specialist" for a fortune 500 company, filing state and county returns all over the USA. I've had these conversations with her, and she says what you say here.
I also have prepared and filed those reports you speak of and wrote the checks to the state to cover those taxes. I also wrote a program to calulate those taxes and compare that data too data recieved from the cash register itself. I also programed the registers. Not only do I know how it works, I know how everyone else's works. The average retail sale in this country is less than ten dollars and @ 7.75% the customers will pay 8% everytime.
If my purchase is $10, 7.75% tax will be 77.5 cents, which will be rounded up to 78 cents, corresponding to 7.8%. If my purchase is $9.99 (much more common), 7.75% sales tax will be 77.4225 cents, which will be rounded down to 77 cents, corresponding to 7.7%. Apparently there was a time when at least some states prescribed rounding up for all totals, rather than rounding to the nearest cent. I don't know whether that's still the case. Here's a document from 2002 that discusses the issue, in the context of "streamlined sales tax" rules for e-commerce: http://www.streamlinedsalestax.org/uploads/downloads/IP Issue Papers/IP02007 Rounding Rule.pdf I see that Maryland and Ohio, as well as some other states, prescribed rounding up to the next cent on purchases. That does strike me as a bit of a racket. It's not that way in my state.
On a $10 sale, with a tax rate of .0775,you program your registers to charge $.80? Mine would charge $.78. I think the state would have a serious issue with your register programming my friend. Btw, if it were a $9.99 sale it would only charge $.77 due to rounding down instead of up in that instance. Btw Mlove, yes I used to be both an accountant at a chain of convenience stores, as well as a director of sales and use tax at a fortune 100 company. I am a CFO now so do not handle this issue directly anymore, but am up to date with applicable laws.