The 10 Promises › Proposal 7 › Legislative Outline

7. Sound Money Act: Legislative Outline

Model Legislative Outline, not final bill text. It needs drafting by legislative counsel. Version 2.1, revised November 4, 2026.

This Act may be cited as the “Sound Money Act”.

Purpose

To audit the Federal Reserve, set out a staged path to a gold-backed dollar, end capital gains tax on monetary metal, and make Congress answer for the value of the dollar.

Principal Requirements

Sec. 4. Full audit of the Federal Reserve

• Repeals the limits on GAO audits in 31 U.S.C. 714(b); a full audit is published within 1 year and every year after.

Sec. 5. Sound Money Commission and staged path

• A commission of 9 members (3 named by the President, 3 by the Speaker and House Minority Leader, 3 by the Senate Majority and Minority Leaders) reports within 2 years.
• It recommends: a fixed gold value of the dollar; a gold reserve ratio; who may redeem, in what amounts, and how; treatment of existing contracts and Treasury debt; and how to reconcile convertibility with price stability.
• Stage 1: audit and commission. Stage 2: Congress votes on the commission’s plan. Stage 3: convertibility begins only on a date set by that follow-on Act.

Sec. 6. No capital gains tax on monetary metal

• Excludes from gross income gain on the sale or exchange of monetary metal.
• Amends 26 U.S.C. 1(h) and 408(m).

Sec. 7. Accountability

• Price stability becomes the sole monetary goal (amends 12 U.S.C. 225a), with semiannual testimony to Congress.

Definitions and Eligibility

• “Monetary metal”: gold and silver coins minted by the United States Treasury, and gold bullion of at least .995 fineness or silver bullion of at least .999 fineness, held directly by the taxpayer. Funds, notes, and derivatives are not included.
• “Price stability”: as defined by the Federal Open Market Committee in a public, numeric target reported to Congress.

Existing Law Affected

• 31 U.S.C. 714 (GAO audit authority)
• 31 U.S.C. 5103 and 5112 (legal tender and coinage)
• 12 U.S.C. 225a (monetary policy objectives)
• Internal Revenue Code secs. 1(h) and 408(m)

Implementation Timeline

• Audit: within 1 year, then annually.
• Commission report: 2 years.
• Convertibility: only on a date set by a later Act.
• Capital gains exclusion: taxable years after enactment.

Responsible Agencies

Government Accountability Office; Department of the Treasury; Federal Reserve Board.

Enforcement and Appeals

The Comptroller General and the Secretary of the Treasury carry out this Act; the Federal Reserve must give GAO full access.

Fiscal Implications

The capital gains exclusion reduces revenue; the audit and commission have small administrative costs. No official estimate yet.

See the fiscal appendix for cited estimates.

Legislative Instrument Required

Bill (H.R.) with a Senate companion bill (S.). No constitutional amendment needed (Article I, Section 8).

Severability: if any provision, or its application to any person or circumstance, is held invalid, the rest of the measure and its other applications are not affected.

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