After posing the question I realized that there are tax implications to paying gold dividends, so maybe that's what prevents companies from pursuing it? Dividends get taxed as income most places, so you'd need a declared value for your gold dividend, presumably the close on the date of record. What comes next is a bit murky though. If I take a cash dividend, use it to buy gold, then sell the gold later, I have an income tax on the dividend and a later capital gain on the gold. However, in the case of a gold dividend which I later sell, how is that taxed? I already paid income tax, I didn't purchase the gold, so do I still pay a capital gain on the sale? Also, tax treatment varies between gold and equities in some jurisdictions, so there's an additional constraint. Any one have any idea how all this might actually work in real life?

ebear