solomon (05/29/82)
A friend from Brazil told me of a related case in a Brazilian city (I believe it was Sao Paulo). The city was minting bus tokens in odd amounts (like 22.5 cruzeros). Since rampant inflation makes the "official" currency somewhat less than univerally respected, people were using the bus tokens as currency. In effect, the city was minting its own currency, and making out like bandits since it was selling the tokens (which cost practically nothing to manufacture) for legal currency, which it could use for other purposes (such as payroll). Where did the money come from? As in all such situations, the practice amounted to a hidden tax, since it contributed to the inflation. I believe the practice was found to be illegal by a higher unit of government. Marvin Solomon at UW (...!harpo!uwvax!solomon or solomon@uwisc)