Cards only

The push to make cities cashless

1. Budgeting:

Taking out spending money in cash is a strategy some use to keep their frittering in check. Lower income people make more cash payments.

2. Squirrelling:

A survey in 2010 by the Reserve Bank found 9 per cent of cash use was hoarding at home, made relatively cheap by low interest rates. There’s been a rise in $50 and $100 notes in circulation. Judicious use of cash use can save money. The Reserve Bank survey could only identify the use for about 40 per cent of the banknotes in the hands of the public suggesting a thriving ‘‘black’’ economy.

Cash is anonymous, which makes it ideal for those who are doing something they do not want the authorities to track. In 2013, a survey suggested 11 per cent of adults had used cannabis. They are unlikely to have used eftpos to pay for it.

Paying for something in cash can result in a business deciding not to run the job through the books, avoiding company tax, and enabling the purchaser to avoid GST.

Cash use spikes at Christmas. Think grandparents sticking banknotes into cards for the grandchildren.

Cashless money boxes aside, cash is king with kids. Contactless payments is sweeping this away, but many small payments are still made with cash.

Tourists use cash for a higher proportion of their purchases than New Zealanders.

3. Avoiding surcharges: 4. Crime: 5. Privacy: 6. Tax avoidance: 7. Christmas: 8. Pocket money: 9. Smaller purchases: 10. Foreigners’ cash holdings:

123RF Auckland, where money talks and very little of the talking is done in cash.

NZ POLICE Stashes of cash are not uncommon, research suggests.