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Today's Date
July 4, 2008
On Monday, July 21, the GLCC will be showing The Wealth of Neighbors and giving a local currency presentation at the Stevenson Community Library. The event begins at 7pm and is cosponsored by the Skamania County Chamber of Commerce.
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The next steering committee meeting will be held on Wednesday, July 23, in the meeting room of the Hood River Library. It begins at 7pm.
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The Summer Trade Directory is now available! Use the Trade Directory Locations link to find out where to get yours.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is local currency?
Why use a local currency?
Who can benefit from RiverHOURS?
How do I get RiverHOURS?
Are RiverHOURS legal?
How do I handle accounting for RiverHOURS?
What gives RiverHOURS value?
Where does the idea for RiverHOURS come from?
What other local currency systems are in use today?
What about inflation or deflation?
Don't see your question? Contact the GLCC
What Is local currency?
Local currency is a system of trade where paper notes (scrip) are used for formal and informal commerce within a specific geographic region. Our local currency is called RiverHOURS.
Imagine, money just for the Gorge!
Local currencies are supported by real labor, real goods and real services in our own community. One RiverHOUR (1RH) is equal to ten Federal dollars ($10). RiverHOURS acknowledge the value of local labor and goods and highlight the time and effort invested by the seller. The GLCC suggests that no one be paid less than 1RH for an hour of work.
RiverHOURS are not meant to replace federal dollars. Instead, they supplement dollars, making more money available in circulation.
Buy Local, and then some …
Using RiverHOURS is taking the idea of buying local one step further. When you use RiverHOURS, you trade with money that will never leave the Gorge. Money that stays in the Gorge circulates over and over again instead of leaking out to distant corporations and financial institutions. If 1RH changes hands 100 times, that's an equivalent to $1000 in trade right here in our community, with zero leakage.
Why use a local currency?
- Local currencies can only be spent on goods and services locally, so the purchasing power stays within the community and boosts the local economy.
- Local currencies create opportunities for people who have skills to trade but are not employed in the current job market.
- Local currencies create opportunities for people to earn income doing the things they really enjoy. For example, a person may love making quilts, but find it difficult to earn money from that hobby in the regular job market. Local currencies create new avenues for earning more income from this type of skill.
- Local currencies bring publicity and tourism to the regions using them, and thereby, more federal money.
- Because local currencies cannot be hoarded in a savings account, they always encourage local spending of both federal dollars and the local currency.
- Local currencies build and strengthen community relationships and self-reliance.
Susan Witt of the E.F. Schumacher Society explains that by favoring regionally-based economies, local currencies are a tool for bringing a human face and sense of place back into our economic transactions. She goes on to say that this interweaving helps bring the community together in all its mutuality - ecological, economic, social, and cultural. Local currencies are a practical way to act locally in the face of globalization.
Who can benefit from RiverHOURS?
- Local merchants, who will attract more customers by accepting RiverHOURS
- Full-time employees who want a second job
- Part-time employees
- Under-employed workers who seek income from their skills
- The unemployed
- The housebound
- Seniors
- Children and teens with skills to offer
- Entrepreneurs developing a part or full-time business doing something they enjoy
- Business people who want more customers
- Those who need to pay informal debts faster
- Anyone trying to save federal dollars for travel or other goals
How do I get RiverHOURS?
The most common way to acquire RiverHOURS is to become a goods or service provider, and advertise in the GLCC trade directory. Each advertiser in the trade directory is issued four RiverHOURS, equivalent to forty federal dollars. To become an advertiser in the GLCC trade directory click here.Other ways to acquire RiverHOURS
- Ask for RiverHOURS as change when shopping at stores that accept them
- Exchange your federal dollars for RiverHOURS from an trader who has an excess supply
- Exchange your federal dollars for RiverHOURS directly from the GLCC
- Accept them in payment for your labor or goods
- Ask your employer to consider accepting RiverHOURS by agreeing to accept RiverHOURS as a percentage of your regular pay.
RiverHOURS are issued into the community by the GLCC when purchasing goods and services for business purposes and through traders choosing to advertise in the trade directory.
Are RiverHOURS legal?
Absolutely. Similar currency systems thrive in dozens of communities around the United States. Law professor Lewis Solomon states in his book, Rethinking Our Centralized Monetary System, that there is no legal prohibition to creating a local currency system in the United States. The IRS, FBI, US Secret Service, Federal Reserve and Treasury Department have all declared the printing and use of local currencies to be legal.
Criteria for legal local currency design
- Must correspond to a specific dollar amount. conversion chart
- Must not look like federal dollars to avoid confusion.
How are RiverHOURS taxed?
Treat your RiverHOURS like federal cash. Each RiverHOURS denomination is assigned a specific conversion value. Since the federal government considers supplemental currencies to be a cash equivalent, you must pay taxes on RiverHOURS income just as you would for other income.
One RiverHOUR is equal to ten U.S. dollars. It is unnecessary to file any special IRS forms for your local currency activity. When you receive a RiverHOUR, ask yourself, "If this were a $10 bill, would I report it as taxable income and pay tax on it?" If the answer is "yes," then add $10 to your business income and
pay tax on it.
How do I handle accounting for RiverHOURS?
RiverHOURS are handled the same as Federal Reserve cash. Since the government views local currencies as a cash equivalent, no special accounting procedure is needed. However, because RiverHOURS are not yet accepted for deposit at any area banks, you will need to total them separately from your federal currency.
What gives RiverHOURS value?
Just like all forms of money, RiverHOURS have the same source of value as U.S. dollars ~ the faith and support of the people who use them. Our local currency is designed to value a person's time and is backed by the goods and services of your neighbors who trade in RiverHOURS.
RiverHOURS have a much smaller geographic and economic base than dollars, but the principle is the same. The more people there are who see them as useful, the more useful they will be. The GLCC focus region is a thirty-five mile radius from the center of the Hood River bridge. map
Where does the idea for RiverHOURS come from?
The first Hours-based currency system was created in 1991 in Ithaca, New York. The Ithaca Hours system now has over 2000 individual and 300 business participants. There is the equivalent of about $70,000 in circulation, and about $2 million in transactions had been generated as of 2004. Ithaca Hours serves as a model for RiverHOURS and dozens of similar local currencies established over the last decade around the United States.
What other local currency systems are in use today?
There are currently local currency systems in use in Canada, Austria, Mexico, Australia, The United Kingdom, and all of the United States of America. Some local currency systems in use today in the United States include:
- Ithaca Hours, Ithaca, New York
- Madison Hours, Madison, WI
- Cascadia Hour Exchange, Portland, OR
In Ithaca New York, people can even pay their mortgage fees with local currency at Alternatives Federal Credit Union!
The E.F. Schumacher Society maintains a directory of other local currencies throughout North America.
What about inflation or deflation?
The GLCC steering committee monitors the flow of RiverHOURS in the community. GLCC members will occasionally be asked their opinion concerning the amount of RiverHOURS in circulation. Based on these reports, the GLCC may alter issuing policy to keep RiverHOURS a strong stimulant to our local economy. There are many factors which determine how much money is put into circulation. Just as with federal currency, if too much money is in circulation, we will experience inflation. If there is too little money in circulation, the trading of goods and services will be stifled.
© 2004-8 Gorge Local Currency Cooperative, Columbia River Gorge, USA
The Local Currency Education Project is a joint venture of
the Columbia Gorge Earth Center and Gorge Local Currency Cooperative
updated May 25, 2008
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