New ‘Cash Law’ Would Change Stores Nationwide
U.S. lawmakers propose a bill requiring brick-and-mortar businesses to accept cash as legal payment, promoting accessibility and fairness for all shoppers.
Read the complete article on MSN, New "cash law" would change stores nationwide: Full list of cosponsors.
According to the article, a current bill in the U.S. Congress would require stores to accept cash as a legal currency across the United States.
What to Know
The bill has bipartisan support in the U.S. House of Representatives from a total of 17 cosponsors.
A similar bill was introduced in the Senate and is sponsored by Senators Kevin Cramer, a North Dakota Republican, and John Fetterman, a Pennsylvania Democrat.
The bill would “ensure that U.S. currency is treated as legal tender to be accepted as payment for purchases of goods and services at brick-and-mortar businesses throughout the United States, and for other purposes,” according to its text.
Any person engaged in the business of selling or offering goods at retail to the public who accepts in-person payments would be required to “accept cash as a form of payment for sales made at such physical location in amounts up to and including $500 per transaction.”
The bill would also prohibit sellers from charging cash-paying customers a higher price compared to others.
Discussion Questions
- What is “legal tender?”
Legal tender is defined as money that is legally valid for the payment of debts and that must be accepted for that purpose when offered.
- Legally, can retailers charge consumers more for a credit card purchase than a cash purchase? If so, are retailers allowed to charge consumers more for a cash purchase than a credit card purchase?
In most U.S. states, with certain restrictions, retailers can legally charge consumers more for paying with a credit card than with cash. Businesses may frame the difference as a cash discount (i.e., a lower price for a cash purchase) or a credit card surcharge (i.e., a higher price for a credit card purchase).
Merchants must adhere to the following credit card company (e.g., Visa and Mastercard) rules:
(a) Surcharges must be clearly disclosed before purchase;
(b) The surcharge cannot exceed the merchant’s actual processing cost, typically capped at four percent of the transaction; and
(c) Merchants must apply the surcharge uniformly, not selectively by card type.
It is generally legal for retailers to charge more for cash purchases than for credit card purchases, provided they clearly disclose the pricing differential and comply with state consumer protection laws. In practice, it is rare for retailers to charge more for cash purchases than for credit card purchases, since cash is less expensive for merchants to handle than credit cards.
- In your reasoned opinion, would this bill make good law? Why or why not?
This is an opinion question, so student responses may vary.
In your author’s opinion, the bill would make good law, since cash is defined by the U.S. government as legal tender. In fact, if you examine the front of a one-dollar bill, the bill (a “Federal Reserve Note”) clearly indicates that “(t)his note is legal tender for all debts, public and private).”
