By law, local money may not resemble federal bills or be promoted as legal tender of the United States, says Claudia Dickens of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.

But at the same time, The IRS gets its share. When someone pays for goods or services with local money also called scrip the income to the business is taxable and of course the government expects to be paid in legal tender; the good old greenback.

The systems generally work like this: Businesses and individuals form a network to print currency. Shoppers buy it at a discount — say, 95 cents for $1 value — and spend the full value at the network or businesses that accept the currency. Consumers get a 5% discount when they use the scrip and it helps promote, buy locally in a more functional local barter system where the scrip continues to be traded rather than cashed in.

During the Depression, local governments, businesses and individuals issued scrip, to keep commerce flowing when bank closings led to a cash shortage. Currently there are about 12 communities doing it as more see it as a benefit to local businesses and as communities try to stop the growing failure of local businesses. It may be what it takes to help ma and pa businesses to compete against giant Chinese Importer Wal-mart that has been creating that giant sucking sound of money leaving communities.

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Disclosure: I also sell imports cause, well, I don't really have a choice. And in fairness, Wal-mart may not have a choice either. Also, going to make people mad here, but American suppliers often are impossible to work with because they care more about "protecting their brand" than opening up new distribution channels so they basically cut their own throats just being egotistical, incompetent assholes.