Falafel House Restaurant on Corydon Needs Some Help From You!

I agree. Now, in many cases, it takes longer (.05 sec) to print the receipt than to do the exchange I noticed.

I too, sure hope that the CRA is looking into some of these "cash businesses", as well as other agencies. Terrorists can take advantage of these business deals to funnel money to bad people.

Regarding fines, I have a hunch they look at "the tipping point" for these individuals to make sure they can and do pay the money back. Too heavy a burden and they fold into the underground economy forever.

What were the recovery costs associated with this case? Will the fine even be enough to cover the court and investigation costs? Not likely. At the very least the fine should be (interest + recovery costs + court costs + "fine") plus the outstanding amount of course. Seems to me like the $68,000 in this case is a pittance when you look at what it likely cost to recover those funds in the first place.

As far as tipping points go, so what? Go ahead and seize assets to make sure what is outstanding is paid. Don't want your assets seized, don't cheat on your taxes. Plain and simple. There was a doctor a few years back in the paper whould owed something like $300-400k in back taxes and was all surprised they seized his Tuxedo home. Too bad so sad. Seems to me that some peeps just feel they are above paying taxes. I have no moral problem's with bankrupting them to send a message to others.

Well, imo, it's a matter of getting the money (some money) as opposed to not getting any money (bankrupt the guy so that he has no incentive to work again if you garnishee 100%).

btw: I think the $68K is over and above paying back all that was owed plus interest, so it is not a small sanction imo.


Heh..his new partner may now be the Federal Government.

Depends on what assets the guy has in the first place. If it's someone that has enough assets (home, investments, business etc.) to cover the fines imposed then seizing all the asstes and auctioning them off may well lead to more funds recovered than letting the guy work it off over a longer period of time.

I'm aware that the $68K is over and above the outstanding amount plus interest. IMHO that likely only covers investigation costs plus legal fees incurred by CRA. So basically he ends up paying what he rightfully owed to begin with plus the costs incurred by the CRA (taxpayer). IMHO that's not enough, there need's to be more of a deterrent and denuciation for what is basically white-collar crime. If it involves bankrupting a few crooks than so be it.

I would believe that the costs for the investigation and prosecution are static as these folks get paid anyway.

Heh...if anything, it gave some of them something to do.

I am not sure about the fines/ i think it is 5 times what was scammed, but I could be wrong. $325,000 on sales might amount to $13,000 in profit at 4%, multiplied x5= $68,000 in fines?
The owner, not my friend by the way, got off because the crime does not end up with jail time if you allow them to have free meals for the rest of their life! lol

oddly enough...i was recently at a store that did not take cash.

debit or credit only was on the sign...NO CASH

seemed odd...as I thought that was illegal (I know it's illegal in the US)

A crown corporation was the first one to start that here and it seems to have caught on.

I figured it was illegal to, but apparently not?? Not sure how it is not illegal.

Why should that be illegal? A vendor has the right to pick and choose the forms of payment available to his clientele. This eliminates the need for the vendor to have a tray full of cash just waiting to be stolen.

Some gas stations restrict purchases during certain hours to credit/debit cards only. Makes total sense.

FlyingRat wrote:Why should that be illegal? A vendor has the right to pick and choose the forms of payment available to his clientele. This eliminates the need for the vendor to have a tray full of cash just waiting to be stolen.

(At least in the US) Because the law has deemed cash to be the ONLY legal form of tender for ALL purchases.
Anyone who pays by cash is offering legal tender (legal form of payment) for their product, and cannot be refused.

Of course the exceptions (in recent years) have been the $50 & $100 bills, as they have high occurrence of counterfeiting. But that's not refusing cash, it's refusing monetary values.

I know in the US...one guy came in to buy a car with pennies (this was about 15 years ago). The dealer told him to get lost...and after the guy proved to a court that he was serious...the courts made the dealer GIVE the guy the car for free, for refusing to take the pennies, which are legal tender, in the US.

grumpy old man wrote:Some gas stations restrict purchases during certain hours to credit/debit cards only. Makes total sense.

That may be because they don't have an attendant on site to take the cash.

Many gas stations in the US have that...it's "pay-at-the-pump" or "no gas".

AGEsAces wrote:

FlyingRat wrote:Why should that be illegal? A vendor has the right to pick and choose the forms of payment available to his clientele. This eliminates the need for the vendor to have a tray full of cash just waiting to be stolen.

(At least in the US) Because the law has deemed cash to be the ONLY legal form of tender for ALL purchases.
Anyone who pays by cash is offering legal tender (legal form of payment) for their product, and cannot be refused.

Of course the exceptions (in recent years) have been the $50 & $100 bills, as they have high occurrence of counterfeiting. But that's not refusing cash, it's refusing monetary values.

I know in the US...one guy came in to buy a car with pennies (this was about 15 years ago). The dealer told him to get lost...and after the guy proved to a court that he was serious...the courts made the dealer GIVE the guy the car for free, for refusing to take the pennies, which are legal tender, in the US.

Is the law the same for Canadian legal tender?

Despite what any law says, it is reasonable to force someone to accept cash for any transaction when other forms are more convenient for the vendor?

I say it is indeed reasonable. Those other forms cost money so they are forcing an extra cost on the buyer.

There is also an extra cost on forcing cash be available as form of payment: cash drawers, security/anti-counterfeiting measures, handling and depositing the cash.... eliminating cash sounds like it reduces costs, so I don't think that argument holds.

indeed it does hold.. thats extra fees the business owner needs to take on.. not the customer, if the owner wants to pass those fees on to the customer that is his prerogative

funny how some companies actually give a 5% discount if you pay with cash tho...

like i said earlier...don't know if it applies in Canada (though most Canadian laws are similar to US)

The plain & simple reason, is that cash is cash.
A debit or credit card or cheque is not...it is a representation of cash...but moreso a representation of access to a sum...but has no value of its own.

Example...if I walk into BestBuy and hand them $2k cash...I can walk out with a new tv...and get some cash back.
If i walk into BestBuy with a debit card, or credit card, or a cheque, i can't walk out with that tv, till they prove there is cash assigned to that item. just handing them a debit card has no value.

The fees for electronic payment are passed on to the customer at the vendor's prerogative as well, so what's the difference?

As for the cash discount, how much of that is because of the fees associated with electronic transactions, and how much is avoiding paper trail, therefore avoiding taxation?

still a paper trail in the stores receipts

And vendors never mess with those records in order to save a few tax dollars, hmmm?

never as far as I know.

AGEsAces wrote:

grumpy old man wrote:Some gas stations restrict purchases during certain hours to credit/debit cards only. Makes total sense.

That may be because they don't have an attendant on site to take the cash.

Many gas stations in the US have that...it's "pay-at-the-pump" or "no gas".

It is because they don't want attendants to have to handle cash, thus making the gas station less attractive a target.

I don't know of any gas stations in Winnipeg that are open and attendant-free.

Lot of pay before you get the gas, and credit card only!
Salsbury House where grumpy used to go before they put his picture up, won't take cash after a certain time at night!