Instead of just criticizing Malaysia's policy, let's discuss what are the goals and interests behind the cash transaction value restriction policy.
With this policy indirectly encouraging people to switch from cash-based payment systems to non-cash, there are at least three fundamental reasons why the Malaysian government and other countries limit the number of cash transactions.
- Non-cash transaction activities can save costs and foreign exchange savings compared to cash transactions. What costs are saved? There are money printing costs, money distribution fees, and cash handling fees. In addition, reducing the opportunity for perpetrators to produce fake money.
- With non-cash transactions, greater liquidity, because non-cash transactions cause more money to be deposited in the bank than at home, then money circulation will be far greater. Such conditions can contribute to reducing interest rates, which may encourage economic development.
- Indirectly as a tax monitoring tool, with non-cash transactions, the possibility of tax avoidance will also be smaller. Why? Non-cash transactions make more money deposited in banks than elsewhere. Thus, tax avoidance is increasingly difficult. Thus, the number of taxpayers will increase. If the number of taxpayers is increasing, the tax rate is likely to decrease so it is not too burdensome to the community.
- The uses of non-cash transactions can be more efficient in terms of time, the faster velocity of money. The more efficient the economy, the faster its growth.
The advantage of non-cash transactions is that they produce financial records that are more accurate, precise, and well-documented. This facilitates and accelerates the tracking of each transaction if needed. In addition, it helps budgeting activities. Because every transaction is well documented, so it's easy and fast to track. This will facilitate the preparation of financial budgets. Cash transactions complicate efforts to trace the origin of money originating from criminal offenses. With large amounts of non-cash transactions, it can be tracked by the authorized official. This will minimize embezzlement or other corrupt practices that can harm the country's finances.
Are the people of Malaysia ready for a cashless society?
Cashless society can be realized with the attention of the government in the preparation of adequate and equitable digital infrastructure, digital literacy and financial literacy.