{"id":144618,"date":"2026-01-22T12:00:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T12:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/144618\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T12:00:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T12:00:12","slug":"cash-only-crisis-orange-county-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/144618\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Cash-only crisis\u2019 \u2013 ORANGE COUNTY TRIBUNE"},"content":{"rendered":"

Opinion<\/a><\/p>\n

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CASH ONLY stores deprive cities of tax revenue (Pexels photo).<\/p>\n

Show Me The Money Dept.: It\u2019s a new year (still), and that\u2019s a good time to address lingering problems and resolving ongoing conundrums (I love that word).<\/p>\n

As cities in Orange County take a look at their budgets for 2026-27, a keen eye may notice a certain \u2026 uh \u2026 divot \u2026 in their bank accounts.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m talking about \u201ccash only\u201d businesses.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>These are usually small retail operations where the proprietors \u2013 often \u201cmom and pop\u201d enterprises \u2013 don\u2019t collect sales tax. That has the effect of reducing the cost of a can of Dr. Pepper Zero to the consumer, but also deprives the city (or county, etc.) of tax revenue which goes to repairing streets, paying the police and fire, etc.<\/p>\n

Thus a Butterfinger that retails for $1 stays at $1 when handed across the counter, no sales tax added.<\/p>\n

Alternately some businesses don\u2019t record the bulk of tneir sales, at all.<\/p>\n

There are a lot of reasons why this happens. Some retailers do it just to simplify bookkeeping. Some do it because they come from a culture where tax evasion is widely practiced because the government is corrupt or downright oppressive.<\/p>\n

It is a tough problem to solve. The cost of canvassing each liquor store or nail shop would be prohibitive. The other reason is that such a canvass would be about as popular as the Stamp Act of 1765 that helped spark the American Revolution.<\/p>\n

But for whatever tax money is essentially \u201cwithheld\u201d that has to be made up elsewhere or represents a public service gone without. Something to think about in 2026.<\/p>\n

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