The ridiculous new laws that could see Australians JAILED for paying cash sums of more than $10,000 – as fears mount of a ‘destructive’ recession
- Proposed law could prohibit future cash transactions of more than $10,000
- A two-year jail term and $25,200 fine could be handed to people who break law
- Federal Government announced proposal earlier this year but has met backlash
- One Nation’s Pauline Hanson compared proposal to ‘category-five cyclone’
Australians could soon be jailed for up to two years and fined $25,200 for paying cash sums of more than $10,000.
The proposed law could come into effect as soon as January 2020 and will target transactions in the black economy.
According to the Treasury website, the black economy ‘refers to people who operate entirely outside the tax and regulatory system.’
‘It encompasses a wide range of practices, including understatement of takings, the payment and acceptance of cash wages off the books, welfare fraud,’ the website reads.
Australians could soon be jailed for up to two-years and fined $25,200 for paying cash sums of more than $10,000 (stock image)
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has even compared the looming law to a freak weather event in a Facebook post slamming the proposal
Since the Federal Government first announced the proposed law during the 2018-19 budget, critics have openly slammed the idea.
Some camps have argued the law would place more control into the hands of banks while others have linked it to an Orwellian state – named after the popular book ‘1984’, which explores a dystopian future.
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has even compared the looming law to a freak weather event in a Facebook post slamming the proposal.
‘If a category five cyclone was sitting off the coast with a trajectory that would decimate millions of people, you’d want to know about it right?’ her post reads.
‘Effectively, if you are a person who keeps cash and uses it to buy a new small car, for example, you will face the real threat of 2 years in jail and a fine that would likely exceed the value of the vehicle.’
Ms Hanson claimed that the Government was using the ‘black economy’ as an excuse in an effort to stimulate the Australian economy.
‘I prefer to call it a social experiment that uses your money to try and correct the market,’ her post reads.
‘Flushing “Mattress Money” out of the shadows and back into bank accounts will leave deposits vulnerable to negative interest rates, prompting those with savings to spend the cash on investments or consumption items.
‘One Nation will not support the bill.’
Professional accounting body CPA Australia general manager external affairs Paul Drum feared innocent people would be unfairly caught up in a system designed to crack down on criminals.
‘To link all large cash transactions to criminality is a step too far,’ he told the ABC.
Economist John Adams claimed the proposal was an attack on civil liberties and rued the idea of giving banks more control.
He said the Banking Royal Commission exposed their ‘dubious record in servicing customers interests’ and exposed more Australians to negative nominal interest rates.
‘Australians should have the fundamental economic and civil right to protect their private wealth, independent of the commercial banking sector,’ he said.
Daily Mail Australia contacted The Treasury for comment.
A two-year jail term could be given to someone breaking the $10,000 cash limitation under the proposed law (stock image)