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Australian senators who are tired of people spending their own money using cash want to put a stop to it with an audacious plan to limit cash transactions to $10,000 with a penalty of jail time for anyone who oversteps. This may sound a bit harsh, but what they really want to crack down on is the so-called 'black market' of cash transactions and dodgy people like drug dealers who have wads of cash stacked away and of course criminals who buy houses with suitcases of bills and then sell the house a while later effectively cleaning the money.
The first iteration of the proposal received significant criticism as personal transactions, such as buying a car, would be caught in the net. The Australian government has been clear about its intention to move society to cashless payments which benefits the government in many ways. Already in place are systems to force house buyers to lodge monies for properties with an escrow service (PEXA) where their money can be stolen with no recourse and no way to avoid the system.
If passed, the law would come into effect on January 1, 2020 and would apply to all cash payments made to businesses with an ABN. The penalties, jail time and fine would apply to both the individual and the business part of the transaction.
There are a couple of exemptions to the cash ban.
- The $10,000 cash limit would not apply to individual-to-individual transactions, such as the private sale of a second-hand car.
- The limit also wouldn't apply when depositing or withdrawing money from a bank.
[...] Head of CPA Australia, Dr Gary Pflugrath, agreed there needed to be a crackdown on the black economy but said linking criminal activity to all large cash transactions was "a step too far".
"This legislation is attempting to deal with a symptom, not the cause, of the black economy. While the use of cash in a large transaction may be an indicator of risk, it does not prove by itself that the behaviour is criminal," Dr Pflugrath said.
"The presumption that only tax evaders, money launderers and criminals use cash, and the mindset that these new offences are required to address criminality, has resulted in a proposed bill and instrument that run counter to well-established criminal law principles and have the potential to affect many Australians.
"The focus on criminalising certain cash transactions is an extreme response to the problem of avoiding scrutiny."
(Score: 5, Insightful) by maxwell demon on Sunday August 25 2019, @05:43AM (11 children)
It's not only the government that wants a cashless society, it's also the banks. If you cannot simply withdraw your money from the account and store it in cash, they can enforce negative interest on it. And, of course, fees for every payment you make.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 25 2019, @06:45AM
Considering that we will be at negative interest soon that is a real problem.
They are considering increasing the GST from 10% to 15% but that will cause such outrage and lack of confidence in the government and banking systems that by itself could result in a rush on the banks which Australia cannot handle right now
(Score: 3, Insightful) by qzm on Sunday August 25 2019, @06:46AM (2 children)
Exactly, they all want to be able to control everything you do.
Making sure they have oversight over every small aspect of your life is the reason for this, not 'drugs'
The criminals will all still keep working away, with little or no impact, because they will have a small herd of minions to split up the transactions.
The plumbers and builders and garages will still keep going cash jobs, because 10k is more than most jobs cost.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by canopic jug on Sunday August 25 2019, @11:02AM (1 child)
The plumbers and builders and garages will still keep going cash jobs, because 10k is more than most jobs cost.
That would be just for the near term. For now most jobs cost less than 10k. However, fines are rarely linked to inflation and in a few years 10k might seem a small and quaint sum.
Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by deimtee on Monday August 26 2019, @01:01AM
When the law has been in place for a while I would expect them to start ratcheting the value downwards. If you have to install the ability to do non-cash transactions it is not much of a hardship to lower the point at which transactions must be non-cash. They may claim it is for drugs, but really it is for GST collection.
Most single jobs you can get a tradie to do for cash yeah, but what are the odds they will add a 'structuring' type limit as well. Make three 4k deposits/withdrawals at the bank in a week and get a "please explain" from the taxman.
As an aside, Australian fines are almost always specified in law in terms of "penalty units". This way they only have to adjust one value and all the fines change. One penalty unit is currently AU$165.22 and the figure is adjusted "for inflation" quite regularly.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Sunday August 25 2019, @06:59AM (2 children)
The banks are the drivers, don't blame the government; they're just following orders.
It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by fustakrakich on Sunday August 25 2019, @02:57PM
Iceberg ahead! What's the plan, Stan?
I got one for starters. Everybody just needs to zero out their debts and quit borrowing money. That is guaranteed to get a reaction.
Then there that little thing about reelecting corrupt politicians.
Seems to me we could make a pretty good world if people actually wanted to...
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Pav on Sunday August 25 2019, @10:14PM
Australian here... This is coming to the rest of the world soon... It's about driving all money into the banks so that interest rates can be driven strongly negative ie. what will become the "new normal". This is what the IMF is pushing, and places like India have already taken steps to implement this.
The world economy is on the verge of collapse, and the usual method of "fixing" this is encouraging new borrowing by lowering interest rates, but interest rates can't go far below zero normally. If they force most cash into banks this becomes possible. They can force peoples savings into the stock market, or else they get hit with negative interest rates and lose their money to the banks anyway.
This discussion [youtube.com] between two economists on this topic is very interesting. One who has spent time advising the current "Liberal Party" (ie. conservative... yes, we call our conservative government "liberal")...
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 25 2019, @11:39AM
Negative interest, or whatever other hair brained scheme they dream up next.
The background here is that our financialised economy is dysfunctional, and the corrupt incompetents running it need ever more elaborate schemes to keep the plates spinning. The people who brought you CDOs, credit default swaps and austerity now want permeant root access to all cash and transactions in our society. Not because they are the Illuminati, bit because they will need to use your money to shore up theirs when their next screw up pops.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by gawdonblue on Sunday August 25 2019, @10:21PM (2 children)
It's what the IMF wants to make negative interest rates work - Australia's public broadcaster has a story on it - https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-08-26/cash-ban-so-you-pay-the-bank-to-hold-your-money-what-imf-wants/11443646 [abc.net.au]
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Monday August 26 2019, @02:44AM (1 child)
Most of y'all are probably too young to remember this, but back when I was a kid, every kind of bank account cost you a certain amount per month, often significant. Naturally the bank's ideal was for everyone to have both savings and checking accounts...
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 26 2019, @06:06AM
There is absolutely nothing that prevents a bank from charging you a fee as is. This is totally different.