AIBU to be so sick of tradespeople/ cleaners asking for cash in hand?

[Endlesspasswords]

So my cleaner charges £21/hour cash, but just said she wants more if I pay by bank transfer, because bank transfer means she can’t dodge declaring it. As if paying by transfer (i.e. traceably) is some kind of favour/ privilege I should pay extra for.

Same with some work I got a quote for- it’s the attitude that if I don’t want to pay in cash, I’m the one ‘hurting’ their bank balance or being awkward.

I’m freelance B2B myself. No sick pay, no employer pension contributions, no paid holiday, I know exactly what it’s like to carry your own tax and NI. But I still pay tax on every invoice, because that’s the deal.

I’m so sick with the fact that self-employed people in one sector get to treat tax as optional while others pay for their healthcare, schools etc.

and yes, I’m getting a new cleaner.

Who checks anybody that they're being honest at all times? Unless we want to live in a police state, we have to accept that some people will choose to be less than honourable.

Actually, I'd forgotten about our own local Chinese takeaway, but they went through a period where they would only accept payment by cash OR an online bank transfer - so they would obviously have been subject to bank fees for the latter method. Maybe for them it was an issue with the payment card provider/fees, rather than the actual bank itself?

They accept cards again now - I presume they've resolved whatever issues they had and/or they were losing a lot of trade from people who didn't have cash and couldn't be bothered (or were suspicious of) being asked to get their phone and go through the faff of setting up a payment, when they just wanted to flash their card at the reader and go home and eat!

There are several of these nail bars where I live. I hate the fact that they insist on cash but they are quite a bit cheaper than other, more reputable salons who have card machines. And they are always so busy!

It all comes down to choice. If someone wants paying in cash only, and you want to pay in another way, and they won't accept that, you can either find someone else to do the job or pay them cash. Depends on how much you need / want them. My hairdresser prefers cash and I wouldn't want to lose her because I am slightly inconvenienced by having to go to a cashpoint. Whether or not she pays tax is not my job to police. It is not illegal (yet) to ask to be paid in cash. There are many countries in the world where everyday items and services are all paid for in cash.