Penny Opponents Look To Save Dollars And Cents.

Let's do some quick math.

With gas at 3.759 a gallon, and 50 gal/wk = 187.95
If we get rid of pennies, state Tax in PA - which is .06 on a dollar would be .10 on a dollar (if you REALLY think the legislature would lower the state tax to .05 instead of raise it to .10, I have a cheap bridge in Brooklyn to sell you - I also compensate for this later in the posting).

So gasoline expenses increase .04 more for each of the 50 gallons/wk = 2.00. So the cost of gas per month increases only 8.00 more (as if they already are not getting more than enough!)

Lets look at a house payment per month:
1250.00 * .04 more for tax = 50.00 more per month.

Running total of 58.00 so far. But what about food?

Let's say 800.00 a month (family of 4!) = 32.00 more per month just in taxes on current prices without figuring in the new, higher-adjusted cost per dollar of the food!

Running total of 90.00 per month or 540.00 per year!.

I will stop there and leave out utilities, car, other taxes, and the other myriad of expenses a person has nowadays - not including cable/satellite, cell phone bills, etc.

So far, without all the rest of the bills, I have payed out 90.00 more/month - or the equivalent of driving down the highway and randomly throwing two silver ASEs out the window per month.

Take the following from the article:



Divide the 42.6 million by the US population and you will see it would cost us 121.00 per year per person to make all nickels and pennies - iftax dollars were used to make coins - they are not! Even if we were paying out of taxes, I still would rather be "throwing away" 121.00 per year instead of 540.00!



Let's say I have made a grave error here and cut the estimated (leaving out many bills/expenses) cost increases in half to 45.00. I still am throwing out at least one ASE that could have been mine. This totals 12 ASEs that I would have had in my pocket that are now in someone else's hands.

One step further. What do we suppose will have to happen to minimum wage once the penny is gone? Since prices will go up, there will be a need to raise wages. What happens when wages are increased? Prices are increased further or cutbacks in quality/quantity are made. Hence my buying power is again reduced.

It is easy for a legislative body to lose touch with the reality of everyday life for us who are not making 150K+ per year. It is also easy to overlook totals when money is spent one penny at a time. Pennies add up.

BTW - anyone who wants to get rid of pennies care to start sending my 12 silver eagles per year

Why? Elimination of the cent does not mean that the tax rates would change, there is no reason why they should. The rates stay right where they are and the final amount, with taxes included is then rounded either up or down to the nearest nickel. Half the time they will round up and half the time it rounds down. In the long run it evens out to a zero change. And taxes do get rounded. That .06 tax you are paying on that gallon of gas comes to 22.5 cents. Where are you getting that Half Cent piece to pay the tax? You aren't because it gets rounded to 23 cents. If the gas was $3.749 the tax would be 22.4 cents (anyone got four mils I can borrow?) and the tax is rounded down to 22 cents. You say that if they decided to raise the tax they would have to do it in nickel amounts? WHY? What about communities today that have rates of 6.25% or 8.5% etc. Do they have supplies of Half Cents or farthings on hand so they can set taxes at odd amounts? No, they just set the rate and the round the final amount. So eliminating the cent would have NO effect on sales taxes. So much for the argument that we have to have cents as long as we have sales taxes.

Case in point, Australia had a 5c piece as their smallest currency unit as of 2005 when I was there. Australia used to have 1c and 2c coins, but they got rid of them in 1991, and they seem to get along fine today. As a note, only cash transactions are rounded to the nearest .05 there, debit and credit cards still go to the .01

Better yet just move to Australia. Then no more worries about our Pennies, our Nickels and any of our coins.


This one makes little to no CENTS.
Gasoline prices are excessively different all over the place. Home mortgages too very massively and so does their interest rates. Sales taxes too vary so much and by so many different places there is absolutely no way of saying anything about them. Actually even the price of a loaf of bread can vary by enough to drive you nuts. $0.59 to several dollars a loaf.
AND all this has nothing to do with Pennies anyway. They will be here regardless of any of the so called math problems.
And I've said this many times. Soon enough there will be no coins used anywhere. Maybe on some distant planet but not here. Plastic will rule.

Then don't use Wells Fargo. Bank of America and Chase both advertise a 1% return on all purchases. BOA also gives you 5% back on all school supplies until the end of September.
Not sure of Wells Fargo but I get advertisements all the time from places that want me to use their credit cards and all sorts of rewards for doing that.
So what you saying is sort of like the guy that goes to a doctor and says every time I lift my arms, they hurt. The doctor tells him to just don't lift your arms.

Same with almost every item in stores. A pair of shoes is usually $29.99 or $49.99. Even as I said before, even a loaf of bread is $0.59. Not $0.60. I don't think anything on Earth is an even amount of money. Imagine if they bring back Mills and on a gas pump is stated $3.8644281/ gallon.

I thought some of the credit card companies have been advertising they would round down on your purchases. So if you paid $14.73 they would post $14.70. Don't remember where or which one stated that though.
However, what you say is really true. And when you get your credit card staement, it is usually paid with a check by mail. That too makes little difference in Cents or even amounts. You can write a check for $14.73 as well as $13.70. So in many instances getting rid of Cents just makes little Cents.
One thing for sure though is without Cents and/or Nickels a check book would be easier ot balance.