> Even if it seems highly unusual to pay for a car/vacation/house in cash this is not a reason to outlaw it.

It's already outlawed in most EU countries. In Italy the maximum cash payment is 3000 euro. In France, 1000 euro. Especially real estate is great for laundering money if cash payment is allowed.

> Second, with inflation, what seems to be a high sum today may not seem so 15 years down the road.

Inflation in the Eurozone is essentially at zero.

the french example is a bit beyond ridiculous - all the people I know that had to do home reconstruction recently myself included, or some bigger shopping (ie car), ended up fed quite a few times when their basic credit cards were blocked for rest of the month (visa classic has 10k/month limit) and you cannot then proceed and pay rest of the expenses in cash (withdrawn ahead).

I am all for curbing criminal activities (somehow suspecting big ones are few steps ahead anyway), but these things have consequences for rest of the folks too.

> the french example is a bit beyond ridiculous

Considering how cheques are usually welcomed in France, I strongly disagree with you. And, if a normal cheque isn't accepted, you can step into your bank and ask a bank-cheque, which is the top. Sure, you have to go to the bank, but it's just for big payments, so not that often.

What does that regulation stop other then people not using bank accounts?

How could this possibly stop any real crime?

Is there example usages of this law?

I've bought computer hardware here that totaled more then 1k when k was setting up a few services. How would that even work since it was online in France?

> What does that regulation stop other then people not using bank accounts?

In France, if you don't have a bank account, you don't exist :-) Seriously, everybody just assumes you have a bank account. Otherwise, it looks fishy.

> How could this possibly stop any real crime?

Directly: hold-up is pointless with no cash. Cheques are useless and credit cards can be easily blocked.

Indirectly: the whole point of banning cash is to prevent untraceable financial transactions from being performed. This is supposed to be annoying for criminal activities.

> How would that even work since it was online in France?

I'm not sure I got your question. Please keep in mind that the threshold is on _cash_ transactions, not on every transaction. As far as it is traceable, no amount is forbidden.

> In Italy the maximum cash payment is 3000 euro.

And the maximum withdrawal is 1000 euros. At last, credit cards have begun to spread.

> Inflation in the Eurozone is essentially at zero

Its because one keeps repeating a lie that it makes it true.

> Folks who do not trust banks/governments ...

I can't imagine why a government, while deciding its political action, should consider the opinion of someone who doesn't trust them anyway :-)

People may grow unfavorable feelings if the government because if regulations like these. Considering these feelings is still important for a government of it still cares in some way about its people.