The Australian Senate has abandoned a plan that would have banned cash transactions on all purchases over $ 10,000. The payment ban proposal was launched in 2017 after a government report suggested the idea as a way to tackle organized crime and tax traps. Businesses face hefty fines and up to two years in prison if they accept more than $ 10,000 in cash (approximately $ 7,500 in US dollars) in a single transaction.
Several politicians were upset with the proposal, but the final nail in the coffin was, ironically, the current covid-19 pandemic. Retailers have been encouraged to use electronic payments as a way to slow the spread of the coronavirus through physical contact and cash, but the payment ban has also reportedly created new regulations at a very inconvenient time.
Australia is already making a humble recovery since covid-induced recession that started earlier this year, and Australia’s Conservative government, led by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, stressed that a half-pandemic was a bad time.institute more barriers for small businesses.
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“As we move into the recovery phase, we recognize that now is not the time to place an additional burden on small businesses,” Deputy Treasurer Michael Sukkar told the Australian newspaper. Age
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Australia’s funeral industry has been one of the strongest opponents of the proposed payment ban, and the Australian Funeral Directors Association has said about 6% of all funerals in the country that cost more than $ 10,000 are paid for. cash. , according to Age.
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Australia originally planned for the payment ban to begin in July 2019 but the implementation was delayed by the Senate. The government planned to enforce the $ 10,000 cash limit through a new “standing task force on the black economy” that reportedly received $ 300 million in funding. The government planned to find around $ 3 billion in new tax revenue over four years, revenue that had previously been hidden in the black market for cash.
The black market for products like tobacco is incredibly lucrative due to Australia’s high tax rate on cigarettes. The sales tax on cigarettes is not applied right up to the point of sale, so it is oddly common for tobacco warehouses in the Down Under lands to be looted and duty-free cigarettes sold on the streets.
While only 37% of transactions in Australia are made in cash, this figure remains high compared to other rich countries. Countries like India and Sweden have accelerated their moves towards a cashless society, which worries 21st century privacy experts and yet some government strategists. very happy in the twentieth century.
The idea of creating a cashless society has been around for over a century, with novels like the one from 1888. Looking back by Edward Bellamy considering some sort of debit card that would be issued by the government. But the idea really started to take off in the 1960s, with the arrival of ATMs and computerized banking which could keep up with payments much faster than the above methods. Some futurists have even imagined various means of payment more “practical” than a credit card, like this ring which contained a small projector.
Australia may have given up on this particular step towards a cashless society, but governments around the world will continue to move in this direction. At least until we blow up the whole world with nuclear weapons in a terrible accident. To our knowledge, Apple Pay does not meet post-apocalypse requirements. As the US Fed demonstrated with its Cold War nuclear bunker, it really needs cash
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