I think there is a huge shadow economy with cash money only. If I look to some people running businesses. It's quite common to occasionally do something in cash without paying taxes on it. Used to buy things like gasoline for boats, car restoration, art and more. I think when this shadow economy is gone, some people will have a harder time living a luxury life. Maybe in the end it will be better to have this shadow world.
Part of it is because visa and mastercard charge these big fees for their service that make it difficult for small businesses to cover costs and be competitive. A few restaurants by me that are legit brick and mortars (versus stands), have card service, still offer a cash discount of 4%. For stuff like food trucks or table setups on the sidewalks, I don't blame them for going all cash and flying under the radar from the IRS, considering how difficult it is to establish a small business in this county and maintain everything in order as far as the local/state/federal government are concerned. Its almost like the laws are designed to make it difficult unless you have a 'fixer' on your side telling you what forms to file and how to deal with things from the government, just based on people I know who run businesses here and have had to use fixers themselves to understand the byzantine tax process or other licensing issues.
> I think there is a huge shadow economy with cash money only.
Oh yes absolutely. The number of $100 bills are more than $1 bills and less than 20% are in circulation inside US [1], meaning significant portion of that is being used for shadow economy. I am pro cash, but the US could probably print less $100 bills. Of course, there is also other currencies, financial instruments and crypto that can be used instead of $100 bills.
> Maybe in the end it will be better to have this shadow world.
It's hard to tell, but we do know that forcibly trying to remove the shadow economy is extremely tough on normal people while bigger players are already diversified with alternatives (gold, crypto, other currency) to have much impact. See India for recent example [2].
Another issue is places like ticketed venues making cash-free a term of sale. You can't buy anything with cash in places like Citi Field or Hershey Park.
