The New York Times is reporting that Sweden is getting close to eliminating cash as a method of payment:
Parishioners text tithes to their churches. Homeless street vendors carry mobile credit-card readers. Even the Abba Museum, despite being a shrine to the 1970s pop group that wrote "Money, Money, Money," considers cash so last-century that it does not accept bills and coins.
Few places are tilting toward a cashless future as quickly as Sweden, which has become hooked on the convenience of paying by app and plastic.
This tech-forward country, home to the music streaming service Spotify and the maker of the Candy Crush mobile games, has been lured by the innovations that make digital payments easier. It is also a practical matter, as many of the country's banks no longer accept or dispense cash. [...]
Bills and coins now represent just 2 percent of Sweden's economy, compared with 7.7 percent in the United States and 10 percent in the euro area.
But, as anyone with a brain can predict:
Not everyone is cheering. Sweden's embrace of electronic payments has alarmed consumer organizations and critics who warn of a rising threat to privacy and increased vulnerability to sophisticated Internet crimes. Last year, the number of electronic fraud cases surged to 140,000, more than double the amount a decade ago, according to Sweden's Ministry of Justice.
My take: With cash, identify theft and credit card fraud becomes more difficult. But more importantly, I like the anonymity of cash. It lets those of us who pay too much in taxes cheat on sales tax by buying expensive things in a tax-free state when we visit. I also like using cash to tip underpaid servers at restaurants so they don't have to report that portion of their gratuity. But there is a civil liberties element to it as well. The government has no business knowing or being able to know where I spend my money or how much I spend.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday December 27 2015, @05:53PM
If you're paying too much tax
Obviously, the submitter falls in that category and believes that his waitstaff will end up paying too much in taxes, if he doesn't tip in cash.
Willing to take the benefits of society but not pay for them.
If that keeps societies from offering such things, then I'm all for it. Blatant exploitation of dumb, short sighted, and unfair public policy is the number one way to fix it.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by isostatic on Sunday December 27 2015, @06:21PM
Obviously, the submitter falls in that category and believes that his waitstaff will end up paying too much in taxes, if he doesn't tip in cash.
In society we agree that everyone should pay their fair share. We also agree what that fair share is. Feel free to organise enough people to reduce the tax burden (perhaps you could stop bombing foreign countries, and paying for other foreign country's militaries)
Now if you want to fight against. Perhaps withhold tax PUBLICALLY until Starbucks and Apple and Facebook and whoever actually pay their share, that's something I can support. Get enough support and perhaps something will happen.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by khallow on Sunday December 27 2015, @07:35PM
We also agree what that fair share is.
No, we don't. Your argument went off the rails here.
(Score: 2) by mendax on Monday December 28 2015, @12:00AM
As far as falling into that category, no comment. As far as whether the wait staff will end up paying too much in taxes, of course they will pay too much in taxes. I don't eat in places where the sever doesn't pay too much in taxes. My sisters waited tables in restaurants and I know how hard they worked, how little they made, and I have a rough idea of how much they coughed up in taxes. Keep in mind that not all taxes are income taxes.
I have no moral difficulty with the idea of doing whatever can be done within reason to avoid paying taxes so long as the public servants we elect have no moral difficulty in wasting taxpayer money.
It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.