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Comment by zzo38computer | Hacker News Reader

It think it is bad. Payment in physical cash should not be restricted. Otherwise the system will fail and then you will not be able to make a payment at all.

I use cash for all payments anyways. And if cash will not work, then we will pay by barter.

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I go weeks without using cash, although visiting Sydney recently it seemed I was surcharged more often than not for using a credit card - not the case in Melbourne where it's still very uncommon.

If a public institution was introduced to allow you to freely digitally transact and securely store your money would you feel similarly?

I may then be more likely to use a digital transaction for some cases, although still I would prefer to use cash as much as possible. (For one thing, it doesn't fail in the way that digital systems do. And, it can be used without a computer. There are other advantages too.)

Not all digital systems fail similarly, consider some sort of distributed hub and spoke system that could arbitrate transactions; thus mitigating a single point of failure. Also consider how much of everything we purchase today is entirely reliant on our digital infrastructure, if there were some calamity that entirely halted our networks I don't think legal tender would be any use.

There is good reason to have more than 10k in cash to have for your family in case a localized natural disaster or other emergency makes digital transactions impossible where your are, during a crisis. You may well need a transaction larger than 10k in cash for transport etc at that point as well.

rephrased: Would I trust Uncle Sam's servers with the entirety of my financial activity? No.

There exist cryptographically secure digital payment systems, but governments are moving against them just the same as cash.

You often pay for things > $10K in cash? You also pay by barter for those things?

This is an appeal to lack of empathy. Just because I don't make large cash transactions doesn't mean I shouldn't care about the rights of people who do.

Ever bought a used car?

I have. It was less than 10k and paid by bank transaction.

But how much an economy still relies on cash varies a lot per country. Every time bank or payment discussions come up here, I'm surprised by how primitive US banks still are. A few decades ago, my parents still had to pay the down payment of their house (f30k I think?) in cash. It makes sense that some countries are more ready to move to a completely cashless economy than others.

Whether or not that's a desirable development is a whole different and interesting discussion, of course. For tax and anti-fraud purposes, it is. For privacy not so much.

Per the FAQ at https://www.treasury.gov.au/sites/default/files/2019-07/at_g..., consumer to consumer transactions, including sales of used cars privately, are exempt from this proposed law.

It's easy to call that exemption a "tax-dodging loophole" and close it once the law is already on the books.

Actually, I don't use a car. (Also, I still use a bank account when dealing with the government, but that is all I use it for.)

Yes but, I don't know why you made that comment lol. I was getting at the fact that most people who buy a second hand car, boat, motorbike, having renovations done, landscaping, etc would be used to handing over more than 10k in cash

I used a cashier's check when I did that.

No idea about Australia, but here in Finland all those examples would normally be paid via a bank transfer.

Anecdote time, but I've bought a used car that was about 100kms from the closest mobile phone reception. Hard to do bank transfers in the middle of the bush sometimes

Ah, that makes sense.

Finding a road without mobile reception here would be difficult.

Yeah, admittedly it's becoming less of an issue as times go on, but there could by other contributing factors to people not being able to do electronic transfers

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