As I continue my search for the absolute unequivocal definition of what a U.S. Dollar is I ran across an interesting measurement:
Stadion (unit of length)
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“Stadia (unit of length)” redirects here. For the land surveyor’s device, see Stadia rod. For other uses, see Stadion (disambiguation).
The stadion, Latinized as stadium and anglicized as stade, is an ancient Greek unit of length. According to Herodotus, one stade is equal to 600 feet. However, there were several different lengths of “feet”, depending on the country of origin.
Can you even imagine being forced to use a unit of measurement that is so poorly defined as the stadia?
600 feet = 1 stadia
But as the article states, “there were several different lengths of “feet”, depending on the country of origin.”
Prior to the introduction of the metric system, many European cities and countries used the foot, but it varied considerably: the voet in Ieper (Ypres), Belgium was 273.8 millimetres (10.78 in) while the piede in Venice was 347.73 millimetres (13.690 in).
Can you imagine trying to determine your gas milage in “stadia”? How would you like to try to buy a home or build a skyscraper or line out a football field using the “foot” as a measurement when it could be anywhere from 10.78 inches long or 13.690 inches long and no one will tell you which one you are REQUIRED TO USE BY LAW?
A mile could be anywhere from 5877 modern-day feet to 4,628 feet long. A one hundred mile trip could be 88 miles of 111 miles in modern-day miles.
Can you imagine how difficult it would be to make clothes or shoes with inches that were 1/12th of a foot but the foot could be anywhere from 10.78 inches long or 13.690 inches long in todays Congressionally established “foot.”
Now think about the “dollar.” Think about all the different dollars of the world.They are much like the measurement that used to be “feet”, different in many nations. Nations from Australia to Zimbabwe use money called the “dollar” but they have many different values. What if the United States Dollar was as diverse in its measurement of value as the stadia was? How about if one type of U.S. dollar had to be exchanged at a rate of 1 for 1 with the East Caribbean dollar and another U.S. dollar could be exchanged at 1 to 1 for the Canadian dollar?
How could you know the “value” of what you earned? What would be the cost of things at the market? How monetary measurement would you use to calculate your family’s budget? What would you use to judge the value of a penny or a dime if the dollar value was like the old foot and had 10.78 dimes or 13.690 dimes in each dollar?
The simple fact is that the United States silver one dollar coin that is CURRENTLY being minted and has been minted since 1986 AD is ONE DOLLAR.
Congress has established $1 as the legal-tender value for these coins, which is their nominal face value or monetary value. See 31 U.S.C. Sec. 5112(e)(4). Congress specifies this $1 denomination for the coin based on its authority to regulate the value of coins under Article 1, section 8, clause 5 of the United States Constitution.
But look at 5112(a)(1):
a dollar coin that is 1.043 inches in diameter.
And 5112(b):
The dollar coin shall be golden in color, have a distinctive edge, have tactile and visual features that make the denomination of the coin readily discernible, be minted and fabricated in the United States, and have similar metallic, anti-counterfeiting properties as United States coinage in circulation on the date of enactment of the United States $1 Coin Act of 1997.
(1) are 40.6 millimeters in diameter and weigh 31.103 grams;
(2) contain .999 fine silver;
(3) have a design—
(A) symbolic of Liberty on the obverse side; and
(B) of an eagle on the reverse side;
(4) have inscriptions of the year of minting or issuance, and the words “Liberty”, “In God We Trust”, “United States of America”, “1 Oz. Fine Silver”, “E Pluribus Unum”, and “One Dollar”
So how can this be? And what about the Federal Reserve Notes?
Isn’t the Federal Reserve Note a dollar? The answer is:
Paper currency, in the form of the Federal Reserve Note, is defined as an “obligation[ ] of the United States” that may be “redeemed in lawful money on demand.” 12 U.S.C. § 411 (2002). These bills are not “money” per se but promissory notes supported by the monetary reserves of the United States.
U.S. v. Thomas 319 F.3d 640, 645 (C.A.3 (Virgin Islands),2003)
See also what the Congressional Research Service told Senator John Ensign about Federal Reserve notes on page 3 of this letter.
It currently costs about ONE United States dollar to buy thirty-three United States dollars. And yet it costs 33 United States dollars to buy 1 dollar. And you can trade 33 Federal Reserve Notes for ONE DOLLAR or 33 dollars. You can also buy 33 FRNS with ONE DOLLAR. In other words the United States dollar has no Congressionally established definition.
So now why not consider this:
Keeping in mind the well-settled rule that the citizen is exempt from taxation unless the same is imposed by clear and unequivocal language, and that where the construction of a tax law is doubtful, the doubt is to be resolved in favor of those upon whom the tax is sought to be laid.
Spreckels Sugar Refining Co. v. McClain,192 U.S. 397, 24 S.Ct. 376, 418, U.S. 1904
So can anyone tell me, or the IRS, how many dollars they have in income? Can you tell me how many dollars you spent last year? Can you tell me if the Internal Revenue Code demands Taxpayers calculate income in dollars? If not then what does the IRS require of Taxpayers?
So is the Income Tax “imposed by clear and unequivocal language”?
So are you a “citizen [that] is exempt from taxation”?
Isn’t it time to find out?