June 28, 2024 2:47PM # The Government Doesn’t Want You Using Cash By [Nicholas Anthony](https://www.cato.org/people/nicholas-anthony) --- SHARE Listen to this article Generated with [ ElevenLabs](https://elevenlabs.io/) AI technology. Loading the [Elevenlabs Text to Speech](https://elevenlabs.io/text-to-speech) AudioNative Player... In the *Wall Street Journal*, I had a letter to the editor [published on June 26](https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-irs-doesnt-want-a-dollar-from-you-859302cb) regarding the rise of electronic payments and the fall of cash. In the article I responded to, [Oyin Adedoyin pointed](https://www.wsj.com/personal-finance/paying-cash-fees-reverse-atm-744d1bd6?mod=article_inline) out that businesses have been moving away from cash for a variety of reasons. For example, tapping a card can be much faster than counting out change. Likewise, not having to store large sums of cash on-site can reduce the risks of theft (both internal and external). However, as I pointed out in my letter, it’s also worth noting how much the government itself discourages cash use. For its part, the Internal Revenue Service goes to [great lengths](https://www.irs.gov/payments/pay-your-taxes-with-cash) to avoid accepting cash. Elsewhere, [the law requires](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/6050I) citizens to report one another when making cash payments over $10,000. Failure to comply [can result in](https://www.irs.gov/publications/p1544) a $25,000 fine or five years in prison. Then there is the [Bank Secrecy Act regime](https://www.cato.org/policy-analysis/revising-bank-secrecy-act-protect-privacy-deter-criminals) to contend with—a regime that broadly labels businesses as “financial institutions” and requires them to report transactions as well. The list goes on, but the point is simple: cash is becoming less common for many reasons, but we shouldn’t lose sight that some of those reasons are decisions made by the government itself. ##### Related Tags [Banking and Finance](https://www.cato.org/banking-finance), [Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives](https://www.cato.org/center-monetary-financial-alternatives) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).