71–80 of 88 posts
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That is the best reason to use cash. Isn't it scary that debit money guarantees you pay more taxes, and it is also used as evidence against you, and to violate your privacy? Cash doesn't have any of those issues, its amazing. That's why governments hate it! (literally!)
Paying your taxes is not an issue. It's called being responsible.
The author of this article seems to make some very obscure points here. First and foremost: "You have to work pretty hard to find a bar serving traditional Germanic beverages and food." What does the author define as "Germanic" beverages and food? As a german that has lived for some time in Berlin I'm quite sure that there are more than enough places to grab "Germanic" beverages and food at. They just don't stand out…
What Americans think is German is often mostly the Bavarian stereotypes. Pretzels, sausage, lederhosen, Oktoberfest. It's common for Americans to be surprised when they find Berlin or Frankfurt isn't full of that stuff. The same happens in reverse: some Europeans think America is the land of cowboys and guns and fireworks, but that's really more like just Texas, and when they go to New York they're surprised by seein…
(Not that I’d recommend going there)
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How are you paying "more taxes"? Those are the types of taxes you're obliged to pay already. Someone needs to pay for schools and roads!
Because it doesn't get reported as income, there's no record of it. Thats why central banks are purposefully hindering it - it takes away their capacity to confiscate and control with it. The capacity to not pay taxes is a very important tool of civil disobedience, just like protesting in a public street.
Sure, they'll send collections after you and get the money one way or another, but it's not like a bank account is going to make any difference there. They'll force open your door and sell your stuff if you make it hard enough for them, not sure how that's better.
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What a weak interpretation. > The author of this article seems to make some very obscure points here. First and foremost: "You have to work pretty hard to find a bar serving traditional Germanic beverages and food." What does the author define as "Germanic" beverages and food? As a german that has lived for some time in Berlin I'm quite sure that there are more than enough places to grab "Germanic" beverages and food…
https://www.kenn-dein-limit.de/alkoholberatung/informationen... You can definitely buy beer. > Does this not support the authors point that he had to work hard to find these places? Just because a tourist is too ignorant to find these places doesn't mean they don't exist. There are plenty of them. They are mostly old-school and don't have big ads outside. Use google maps. There are plenty. > Private payment processor…
Where did I say that you could not buy beer? Please re-read the original claim.
> Just because a tourist is too ignorant to find these places doesn't mean they don't exist. There are plenty of them. They are mostly old-school and don't have big ads outside. Use google maps. There are plenty.
Again, where did I (or the original article) claim that these places don't exist? You continue responding to imaginary claims, this is no way to communicate.
> If you're pushing for cash-only or card-only other than for tax evasion reasons you're pretty much ideologically tainted. Otherwise, I'm no longer going to discuss this "journalist outlet" that is just a mouthpiece for alt-right propaganda. Especially one that can't differentiate between germanic and german.
What a arrogant and dismissive statement. You seem to have taken offense at the author for not properly differentiating between germanic and german. Why is this so important to you?
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Then people should be free to use cash, but there's no need to lock out people who prefer card payment (I also prefer cash, but mainly because I'm old-fashioned). But if a restaurant has a sign in the door "no card payment due to technical problems" for years, it's probably neither a technical nor a cultural/ideological issue ;)
I've seen terminals "temporarily broken" for many months in Berlin. Taxi drivers are supposedly notorious for having terminals (which are mandatory, as far as I know) that often break – and mysteriously start working again once you reveal that you do not have any cash on you as a passenger.
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I could definitely feel the propagandistic nature of this piece of "journalism".
It's not an article being shared in good faith. Look at OP's (sourpuss) submission history, and it's quickly apparent that their main goal is posting controversial bait. Most of their submissions fall far outside the site's guidelines, and their lack of discussion anywhere on the site basically cements them as a troll. Politics be damned, they seem to have no interest in fostering interesting discussion. I've been fl…
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Because it doesn't get reported as income, there's no record of it. Thats why central banks are purposefully hindering it - it takes away their capacity to confiscate and control with it. The capacity to not pay taxes is a very important tool of civil disobedience, just like protesting in a public street.
You can still not pay your taxes if you want to use tax fraud as a method of civil disobedience. The government doesn't just grab a random bank account and take money from it. Sure, they'll send collections after you and get the money one way or another, but it's not like a bank account is going to make any difference there. They'll force open your door and sell your stuff if you make it hard enough for them, not sur…
During this last summer in Europe, I used ApplePay literally everywhere I went, even for the smallest purchases. A few places in Berlin -- more than smaller cities -- held on to "cash only", particularly the cafe around the corner from my Airbnb where I got coffee every morning. But all the restaurants I visited have shifted to bringing the portable pay unit for tap-and-pay at the table, which I much prefer to leavin…
> But all the restaurants I visited have shifted to bringing the portable pay unit for tap-and-pay at the table, which I much prefer to leaving the card on the bill in the US and having it disappear for a moment while they ring you up at the central POS (still the standard practice in the US places I live near). Perhaps offtopic, but that's such a ridiculously scary concept to me. I was already nervous when in anothe…
Often this is for tax evasion. There has been a discussion for over a decade now with ever new proposals from the IRS to halt cash only tax evasion in shops and restaurants. Recently a famous cook was sentenced to years in prison as he took $5M from the cash register over several years. One criminal organization alone sold cash register software that lead to an estimated $500M in tax losses.
In Germany its a cultural thing. People just prefer the option of privacy.
When I'm in a restaurant looking around, everyone is paying with card (Except perhaps for very small amounts where putting in a PIN is a pain. Since COVID and pin-free payment ~<$50 this seems to have changed too E.g. paying at a coffee shop for coffee).
The author of this article seems to make some very obscure points here. First and foremost: "You have to work pretty hard to find a bar serving traditional Germanic beverages and food." What does the author define as "Germanic" beverages and food? As a german that has lived for some time in Berlin I'm quite sure that there are more than enough places to grab "Germanic" beverages and food at. They just don't stand out…
Some do, some do it for other reasons. Especially older smaller shops are often do it for cost-reasons, or because the owners are old and don't care much for modern technology, or because they are young and hip and don't care for modern technology, which is especially in the Hipster-Areas of Berlin a real thing, which is a pretty sad thing in its own. I mean we are talking about shops who not just remain with physical cash, but where the whole shop and its vibes are oldschool, analog, without any advanced technology. At that point it's just part of the marketing and sellout-identity.
The general problem is, Cash is still the most reliable, simple and cost-efficient solution for payments. While Cashless still demands contracts and some equipment. Established Shops often have old bad contracts with high fees for cashless transfers, and prior to the pandemia, cashless was not used widely enough for them to gain a solid experience with it. This changed in the last years, but not for everyone, and old habits die hard.
I know from my own family, which is full of old and strange people, some even having smaller shops. Most of them have problem with such stuff, some are not even willing to use something like WhatsApp or a simple calculator-app. And yes, some also just don't care for tax, because this is also hard. Reasons are just manifold with that topic.