Pennies are well known for costing more money to produce than they are worth, the penny and the nickel are also rarely used to complete transactions and as long as change is rounded to the nearest multiple of 5c you are able to make any amount of change using dimes and quarters. The only time there would be an issue is if sales taxes cause the retailer to give any amount not ending in 0 or 5 cents in this case the federal government should pay the difference and lower the taxes to make it a flat 5 or 10 cents
1 Like
But only on cash transactions. Digital transactions could still use small denominations. I seriously doubt Uncle Sugar would eat this however.
The first steps towards doing away with cash and going digital only for everything…
Inflation has, regretfully, made many coins impractical. We don’t need pennies or nickels. We’re losing money on them. . This is a no brainer.
1 Like
I think that’s fair, I think having the federal government pay isn’t out of the question, I don’t think it would total much since not many people pay cash and paying a few cents per transaction on 40% of those cash transactions isn’t likely to be much money
This is actually going to help keep cash available, streamlining it and making it less of a money sink will firstly take away a reason for the government to stop using cash and secondly stimulates the use of cash since technically the taxes are decreased, also it would be easier to use because quarters and dimes have more value and people may actually hold onto them
Truthfully, not to mention no one uses those lower denominations and dimes and quarters can make most change increments
Absolutely disagree with going to a completely digital payment system. 1. Government can and will use this against the citizenry look at China. 2. How would you pay between people such as paying for a babysitter or paying a friend/family member for picking up items for you. 3. You also have hidden charges for every credit card transaction that the vendor pays that the customer does not see. Sometimes cash makes more sense.
1 Like
I’m not proposing a digital system. My point is that now most of us don’t carry much if any cash. That means at least a portion of our transactions are already digital. I am only proposing that we continue to use current monetary increments on those transactions. If the government were to absorb the small amount below the smallest currency denomination–as proposed in the original post–that would quickly become a large amount. To reduce this amount, only have the government absorb the cost on cash transactions. Digital or checks can be for any amount, thus no cost there. My concern is that the government absorbing any cost is just one more straw on the back of the taxpaying camel.
1 Like
I’m likewise opposed to an all-digital system, my point is that doing away with those small currency coins is a gateway to just doing away with physical currency entirely.
Nope again. You just love taxes.
How about bringing the value of the dollar back up so that a one and five cent piece are worth something again. Why give in to the crappy economy and give the .gov more ability to confiscate wealth?
I disagree that getting rid of the least used and most expensive forms of cash would make it easier to move away from and having the slight tax benefit would actually incentivize some people to pay cash over card
I proposed cutting sales taxes for people paying cash, I did not propose a new tax. Let’s say the value of the dollar 5xed, which would never happen, the penny would still be worthless and the 5c coin would barely be worth keeping around, also how would you propose we deflate the economy 5x? The government wouldn’t be confiscating money, they would simply stop producing the penny and nickel.
The U.S. government spends more money making the Penney and Nickel than they are worth, to stop producing them would lead to less government spending.
I do definitively agree that the government is destroying the value of the dollar but unfortunately it’s impossible to get that back, the best way to preserve it would be to cut government spending, deregulate the economy and allow people to more easily transact.
Are you aware that there are already stores that offer a small discount for paying in cash?
Yes I am, it’s gotten me to use cash once or twice before, this makes it unversal
Do you know why there are some stores that already offer a small discount for paying for cash?
Because then they can avoid a few charged by card providers
And your proposal has nothing to do with credit card fees.
I’m not sure what your point is? I was saying people paying less in taxes encourages them to use cash this bill has nothing to do with credit card fees
You’re trying to use cash purchases to save on credit card fees as a comparison, except this is not the same thing. It is a different policy that would exist alongside ‘discount for cash’ in places where that is in effect. And in contrast to the ‘discount for cash over credit card’, this would be government-mandated prices.
Here’s the thing - if you implement a system where stores are required to end prices in a ‘0’ or ‘5’ rounded down from the actual set price and say that the government will make up the difference, you have now created a system where every business will be incentivized to set their ‘actual’ prices at a number that will end in either ‘9’ or ‘4’, so that they will get a free four cents from the government.
On its own it might not sound like much, but when every business is incentivized to set their prices at a place where the government will be paying them the difference, it will add up quickly.