Cashless: Black-Red wants to make electronic payment options mandatory

The planned black-red coalition wants to further reduce the use of cash. SPD financial politician Michael Schrodi explains this approach to Welt am Sonntag: "We are committed to genuine freedom of choice in payment transactions." In the ongoing coalition talks with the CDU and CSU, the Social Democrats have agreed that every customer in stores and restaurants should be able to pay either with cash or digitally in future. A corresponding obligation will be gradually introduced.

In line with this, the outcome paper of the budget, tax and finance working group of the black-red negotiators states: "We want cash and at least one digital payment option to be offered gradually." Representatives of the conservative camp are said to have confirmed the plan. Schrodi also sees the plan as an effective means of enforcing tax laws more effectively. The SPD politician told the newspaper: "Our aim is to combat tax fraud in cash-intensive sectors such as the hospitality industry and thus protect the many tax-honest entrepreneurs."

According to Schrodi, Black-Red also wants to push for a general obligation to use cash registers. "The time of open cash registers must be over," he emphasized. It had been agreed with the CDU and CSU to take such steps after the upcoming evaluation of the 2016 cash register law at the latest. Newly purchased digital cash register systems have been required to have a technical security device (TSE) since 2020, older ones since 2022. Such hardware-based solutions are intended to protect digital records from subsequent manipulation. The Bundestag introduced the corresponding requirement with the law "on protection against manipulation of basic digital records". The parliament wanted to use this to better combat VAT fraud through tricks at e-registers.

Cash use as a basic right?

Anyone who pays with a card or smartphone app leaves behind comprehensive, easily analyzable data traces that can be condensed into profiles. Ramona Pop, Director of the Federation of German Consumer Organizations (vzbv), therefore took up the cudgels in 2023 for the preservation of cash despite digitalization. "Payment is political," she said as a slogan. Who buys what and when in the supermarket, for example, "is nobody's business". Cash has the great advantage of not being traceable. An end to cash "threatens the informational self-determination of all citizens and is therefore politically highly explosive", economists also warn: "It's about fundamental freedoms."

According to the report, the German Hotel and Restaurant Association (Dehoga) is critical of the coalition initiative for other reasons: "In view of rising operating costs and falling revenues, this represents an additional burden for businesses." Although card payments and mobile payment methods are convenient for guests, they cause additional costs for restaurateurs, such as rental and service fees for card readers as well as transaction and sales fees. The association also rejects the cash register obligation with a view to corner stores, restaurants and ticket stores at public festivals. The German Tax Union, on the other hand, welcomes the plan.

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