"Only 1% of Berlin’s 80,000 cash businesses have their cash recordkeeping inspected by tax authorities every year. "
Well then surely the solution is to audit those businesses. If indeed the main reason why these business won't do digital payment is tax evasion, it seems like those businesses would be the lowest lying fruit.
On the flipside, if no auditing is going to happen anyway, then it doesn't matter if they take digital payment or not.
I'm not against the proposed law necessarily (with a caveat), but it's not a surprise that the article in Tagesspiegel is littered with quotes from Mastercard about why businesses should be forced to take digital payment. This is their lobbying at work, that's why a politician can say with a straight face he can't think of any reason why a business would not take digital payment other than tax evasion.
Payment processing fees for small businesses on low margins are difficult. It's easy for large companies who have more bargaining power, it's fine for high margin businesses, but it's difficult on Döner shops and Spätis.
The answer is to allow those businesses to charge extra for digital payments. That's not allowable under EU law however, but that would be the fair thing to do.
I hear what you're saying. However, it doesn't seem this is an issue in most other countries. Also, I know plenty of small business owners who love cash precisely so they can pay people under the table or on a fake freelance basis. Which brings us to another structural issue in Germany: social security contributions are insanely high in Germany making it prohibitively expensive to hire staff on the books.
I think the "most other countries" thing is because the population happily carries cash and so a business doesn't lose out on many customers by not doing digital payment.
On the flipside, if the tax evasion advantages of cash only businesses were that true and universal, you'd see cash only businesses globally, as opposed to only here.
Totally agree. The quote about "no other reason" was blindingly obviously corrupt disinformation. Anyone who has talked to shops knows they have two problems – the fees associated with cards, and people passing of counterfeit cash. And people stealing from the till, and people walking out without paying. OK, four problems.
Head of xylophone is literally banned from multiple improv communities. Let’s hold shitty men accountable
While I'm aware of some issues I'm certainly not well-versed in the impro scene. Feel free to email me (andrew@20percent.berlin) and I'll ask around.
"Only 1% of Berlin’s 80,000 cash businesses have their cash recordkeeping inspected by tax authorities every year. "
Well then surely the solution is to audit those businesses. If indeed the main reason why these business won't do digital payment is tax evasion, it seems like those businesses would be the lowest lying fruit.
On the flipside, if no auditing is going to happen anyway, then it doesn't matter if they take digital payment or not.
I'm not against the proposed law necessarily (with a caveat), but it's not a surprise that the article in Tagesspiegel is littered with quotes from Mastercard about why businesses should be forced to take digital payment. This is their lobbying at work, that's why a politician can say with a straight face he can't think of any reason why a business would not take digital payment other than tax evasion.
Payment processing fees for small businesses on low margins are difficult. It's easy for large companies who have more bargaining power, it's fine for high margin businesses, but it's difficult on Döner shops and Spätis.
The answer is to allow those businesses to charge extra for digital payments. That's not allowable under EU law however, but that would be the fair thing to do.
I hear what you're saying. However, it doesn't seem this is an issue in most other countries. Also, I know plenty of small business owners who love cash precisely so they can pay people under the table or on a fake freelance basis. Which brings us to another structural issue in Germany: social security contributions are insanely high in Germany making it prohibitively expensive to hire staff on the books.
I think the "most other countries" thing is because the population happily carries cash and so a business doesn't lose out on many customers by not doing digital payment.
On the flipside, if the tax evasion advantages of cash only businesses were that true and universal, you'd see cash only businesses globally, as opposed to only here.
Totally agree. The quote about "no other reason" was blindingly obviously corrupt disinformation. Anyone who has talked to shops knows they have two problems – the fees associated with cards, and people passing of counterfeit cash. And people stealing from the till, and people walking out without paying. OK, four problems.