I think it's illegal in NYC to not accept cash and I fully support that. There are a lot of unbanked people here that have enough on their plates without further discrimination.
And also cash is king and coins and bills are very neat.
Would you support removing cash if everyone was given a bank account? Perhaps with the government?
OPs point was that cash not being accepted means you have no privacy in a place you might want it. Governments love credit cards, easy pay, etc. Especially in the case where your transactions are kept with you forever so that future governments can punish you.
> Would you support removing cash if everyone was given a bank account
... that couldn't be closed, limited, frozen, or surveilled?
Sure!
But otherwise, not a chance.
Giving somebody "a bank account" is just giving them a pretty piece of paper. All the useful properties of that pretty piece of paper are revocable at a whim.
"The New York City Council has approved, by a vote of 43-3, a bill that would make it unlawful for most businesses to refuse to accept payments in cash, with limited exceptions."
It was supposed to go into effect November, 2020. I don't know if COVID concerns about handling cash meant that businesses were formally or tacitly allowed to require cards since they could be touchless (tap) or close to it (wipe down the hard plastic keys).
And also cash is king and coins and bills are very neat.