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: 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.