2p and £2 coin production suspended for ten years
According to the NAO, the rapid decline in cash usage, accelerated by the coronavirus pandemic, has left the Royal Mint sitting on a mass surplus of 2p and £2 coins – enough to last the UK for the next ten years.
You might also be interested in
Replies (10)
Please login or register to join the discussion.
On a more serious note... removing cash from the economy would do a lot to help prevent fraud and tax evasion. It is only a matter of "when" not "if" cash disappears.
Mobile phone payments need to be improve if this is to become a reality, as that would allow the smaller traders (e.g. window cleaner, charity beggars, market traders, etc.) to collect payment.
The health risks in handling cash have been long known and so it should be removed from society on these grounds alone.
Never ceases to amaze me how many ordinary citizens are "do gooders" trying to help the government or feel they need to police our tax systems when we have paid tax inspectors to do that. Instead of worrying about tax evasion from people paying in cash, maybe you should focus on how many millions have been "lost" in ordering PPE through dodgy companies that are linked to the conservatives. In the end they had to send an RAF fighter jet to pick up supplies from Turkey and they all turned out to be useless and were binned.
https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-ppe-shipment-flown-in-from-turkey...
Maybe you want to focus on the £100 billion that is going to be wasted on Operation Moonshot?
https://www.bmj.com/content/370/bmj.m3558
How about the billions spent on the Track and Trace system and housing illegal immigrants in 4 and 5 star hotels thanks to Serco who keep on getting lucrative government contracts because of their connections?
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/aug/11/uk-government-serco-con...
Forget about that old saying: "If you focus on the pennies, the pounds will look after themselves". Focus on the pounds instead and you can save the taxpayers billions in a couple of hits. Let the tax inspectors worry about cash transactions. I have absolutely no problems with anyone getting away with tax evasion bearing in mind how much our government pillages our tax coffers daily on useless ventures.
You are quite right that government waste should be keep to a minimum and you highlight some shocking examples.
But condoning tax fraud.
2 wrongs do not make a right.
And every person committing a criminal offence by fiddling is taking money out of the pocket of honest citizens who have to pay more in to make up for it.
I try and pay cash for most of the things I need/buy, I`ve never wanted the government or any other official body to know what I eat, drink, give away, have done at home etc .
Looks like the barter system may have to be re instated .
Why do people care about this? Do they really think that the government have teams of people spending all day looking at what we buy? They only do that if they think us guilty of a crime and, in that case, they have so many more tools to track us, such as ubiquitous CCTV and ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) cameras, amongst others. I haven't spent any cash whatsoever since March and would happily never use cash again. I pay for all retail items from my watch. It's so much simpler and it enables me to track my own spending automatically.
Well, I came away from the office in March with £20 in my wallet, I got posted to me over the last six months 3 £20 notes as my boss and I do the Euromillions (I do online he sends me his £20 share every couple of months or so). The window cleaner gets £10 a month, I paid a couple of carpet fitters £60 plus a £10 tip and right now there is £130 in my wallet- looks like I am £20 down somehow, I likely need a kilt.
"Every nicht I used to hang ma troosers up at the back of the bedroom door.
I rue the day; Ah must ha been a jay.
I'll never hang them up any more,
Because ma wife she used to ramble through ma butchers
When I was fast asleep beneath the clothes,
And in the mornin' when I woke, I was always stony broke,
And that's the reason noo I wear the kilt."
Indeed, it's not just the govt from whom one may wish (on a point of principle not logic) to to keep uninformed on every detail of one's lifestyle - despite what the smug and righteous may suggest.
I recently needed to extract £10,000 (of my) cash from my local bank, so arranged everything in advance ... and was annoyed to be asked by the young cashier, in the middle of a series of pre-defined questions, "For what purpose do you require this cash?"
Not even at attempt at friendliness (By the way, I'm curious as to why ...) - just a peremptory tone that suggested I must have a nefarious intention. So I was on the verge on getting into the spirit of her attitude (i.e. arguing my ownership of the cash and rights to privacy trumped whatever her reason for interfering might be), when a better solution occurred to me ...
I put on my best impression of elderly forgetfulness and responded "That's a good question ... I know I promised a special bonus to one of my mistresses, but now I can't remember which one".
Result: very embarrassed cashier ... curtailment of further questions ... and cash handed over!