Washington has moved backward on sound money policy in a significant way. For roughly four decades, the state excluded precious-metal bullion and monetized bullion from retail sales and business-and-occupation taxation. That protection ended on January 1, 2026, when a provision enacted in 2025 made retail bullion purchases subject to sales tax and imposed Washington’s business-and-occupation tax on bullion dealers.

Washington also does not recognize gold and silver as legal tender under a distinct state sound money law, does not maintain a physical bullion reserve, and has not created a state system for accepting precious metals in payment. Bills introduced during the 2025–2026 legislative biennium would restore the tax exemption or establish voluntary tender protections, but neither proposal became law.

Current Washington Sound Money Laws

Washington has not enacted a comprehensive law recognizing gold and silver as state legal tender for voluntary transactions. Private parties may agree to exchange goods, services, or property for gold or silver, just as they may enter other lawful barter arrangements. However, Washington has not established a statutory framework like other states that:

expressly recognizes gold and silver specie as state legal tender,
requires courts to enforce gold-clause contracts in specie,
authorizes state agencies to accept bullion, or
protects precious-metal transactions from taxation.

House Bill 2069 proposed recognizing the voluntary use of qualifying gold, silver, and monetized bullion as tender. As of July 20, 2026, however, the bill remained in the House Finance Committee and had not become law.

Washington currently imposes retail sales tax on precious-metal bullion and even monetized bullion! While it remains for a court to decide how to reconcile the current contradictions in the law, the Washington law appears to attempt to tax even legal tender gold and silver coins from the US mint in direct opposition to federal law!

Beginning January 1, 2026, sales of qualifying bullion to consumers became subject to state and local retail sales tax, and the state business-and-occupation tax under the retailing classification.

The Washington Department of Revenue defines precious-metal bullion broadly to include refined metals such as gold, silver, platinum, rhodium, and palladium whose value depends primarily on metal content. Monetized bullion includes qualifying coins or other metallic money such as U.S. Legal tender from the U.S. Mint.

This represents a major reversal. Before 2026, Washington had generally excluded bullion sales from the definitions of retail and wholesale sales under RCW 82.04.062. The exemption had existed in some form since 1985.

House Bill 2093 was introduced to reinstate the exemptions, but it remained in the House Finance Committee and did not become law during the 2026 regular session.

State Capital Gains Tax:

Washington does not impose a conventional broad-based individual income tax. It does, however, impose a state tax on certain long-term capital gains. Physical gold and silver are generally treated as capital assets rather than money for Washington tax-policy purposes. Therefore, gains from selling precious metals may potentially enter the state capital-gains calculation when the taxpayer is subject to the tax and no exclusion applies.

The practical tax result depends on factors such as:

the taxpayer’s total taxable long-term capital gains,
the applicable annual deduction,
the form in which the metal is held,
the length of ownership, and
whether another statutory exclusion applies.

Washington has not enacted a specific state capital-gains exemption for gold and silver. Accordingly, bullion owners should not assume that gains are automatically exempt merely because Washington lacks a traditional personal income tax.

State Gold Reserve

Washington has no statutory requirement to hold physical gold or silver in its treasury, rainy-day funds, or other state reserves. The state has not created a physical bullion reserve, a precious-metals reserve fund, a state bullion depository, a gold-backed payment system, or a program allowing taxes and state fees to be paid in specie.

Publicly available sound money policy reviews have also found no indication that Washington’s government pension funds hold allocated physical gold or silver as a distinct reserve asset.

Banking and Bullion Infrastructure:

Washington has no specialized bullion banking structure comparable to Wyoming’s Special Purpose Depository Institutions or the Texas Bullion Depository.

Conventional banks, coin dealers, refiners, and precious-metal businesses may engage in lawful transactions subject to applicable federal and state regulation. However, Washington has not established a state-chartered institution designed specifically to custody bullion, issue bullion-backed accounts, or facilitate gold and silver payments.

The new sales and business taxes place Washington dealers at a significant competitive disadvantage compared with dealers in surrounding states that exempt precious metals.

The newly imposed sales tax is discouraging purchases and is causing buyers to purchase from dealers in neighboring jurisdictions. Although more data is needed to measure the full effect, other states have found that the loss of local revenue and ancillary economic activity will likely cost Washington significant losses. This is because revenue collected in sales taxes on Sound Money is less than the losses caused by the general economic suppression of the precious metals industry and all the other industries they patronize and support.

Gold and silver appear to have very limited use in ordinary Washington commerce. Private parties may voluntarily agree to accept coins, bullion, or other precious-metal products in exchange for goods or services. In practice, however it is unclear if the sales tax provisions make precious metals uniquely unsuited for barter trades. The national Goldback merchant map does identify a few isolated Washington businesses willing to accept Goldbacks, but such acceptance is private and voluntary. It should not be confused with a statewide Washington monetary system.

The taxation of bullion purchases beginning in 2026 makes everyday metallic commerce particularly difficult. A buyer may have to pay retail sales tax when acquiring the metal, even though the metal is intended to function as savings or a medium of exchange.

Recent Legislative Activity
House Bill 2069

HB 2069 proposed a broader sound money framework involving the taxation and voluntary tender status of qualifying gold, silver, and monetized bullion.

The bill was introduced in 2025 and reintroduced in 2026, but it remained in the House Finance Committee without passage.

House Bill 2093

HB 2093 proposed restoring Washington’s previous tax exemptions for sales of precious metals and bullion.

It was referred to the House Finance Committee in January 2026 but did not advance into enacted law.

These bills demonstrate that legislators are aware of the harm caused by taxing precious metals, but the movement has not yet secured sufficient support to reverse the 2025 tax change.

Overall Assessment:

Washington currently ranks as a particularly unfavorable environment for sound money ownership and commerce, especially after the 2026 taxation change.

Opportunities:
Restore the sales and business-tax exemptions repealed in 2025.
Recognize gold and silver as legal tender for voluntary transactions.
Exempt gains on constitutional money from the state capital-gains tax.
Protect and enforce gold-clause contracts.
Authorize the State Treasurer to hold allocated physical bullion.
Permit residents to pay selected taxes and fees through a bullion-backed system.
Study the economic effect of the 2026 tax change on Washington coin dealers and cross-border commerce.

Washington has retreated from sound money principles by making precious-metal bullion subject to retail sales tax and business-and-occupation tax beginning January 1, 2026. The state does not currently recognize gold and silver as legal tender through a dedicated state law, hold physical bullion reserves, or provide meaningful infrastructure for precious-metal commerce.

There is no trustworthy statewide count of Washington residents who own gold or silver, and documented use in everyday commerce is limited to isolated voluntary transactions. The immediate priority for the sound money movement in Washington is therefore defensive: restore the longstanding bullion tax exemption. From there, advocates can pursue legal tender recognition, capital-gains tax neutrality, enforceable gold-clause contracts, and prudent state ownership of physical gold and silver.