A Bucket Full of Silver and Gold Coins

What if you possessed a bucket full of real gold and silver coins? Some of your coins are rare. All of them are valuable. Would you convert them to cash you could spend? Would you buy a new muscle car...diamond rings or tennis bracelets...designer shoes...beautiful clothes? Would you tithe your money?

What if you didn’t have to pay income tax on your bucket of money? Impossible, you say.

But it’s possible in my dream world. In the day of The Dream Bucket, which was 1909, income tax in the United States didn’t exist.  According to “Taxation History of the United States” in Wikipedia, the United States imposed income taxes briefly during the Civil War and again in the 1890’s. The federal government began collecting income tax on a permanent basis in 1913.

I enjoy reading about the early twentieth century because of its simplicity. While I sit in an airport and type on my laptop as I research a subject on my cellphone, I can dream of a time when life was simple. The air conditioning feels good, and I like eating nuts from a little package.

A family in The Dream Bucket had a tax-free bucket of money when the coins were worth their weight in gold and silver. They saved it and planned to take a trip on a train. I won’t spoil the story by telling you what happened to the bucket.

Back to you—what would you do if you saved a pile of money? You would pay your taxes.

I did.