You might, but the central banks don't! It's a recurring theme in published research papers by economists and by the central banks themselves. It's called "breaking through the zero bound" on monetary policy, or "removing the effective lower bound". The tone in these papers is universally that this would be desirable for the central bank, but hard for the public to accept.
> With these advantages in mind, the final portion of the paper describes in detail three methods by which the zero bound on interest rate policy can be unencumbered completely. The three methods in turn would: 1) abolish paper currency, 2) introduce a market-determined flexible deposit price of paper currency, and 3) provide electronic currency (to pay or charge interest) at par with deposits.
> a cashless society could open the door to the prospect of negative interest rates to a greater extent than is currently possible. Most central banks are obligated by law to supply cash to the general public. To the extent that the economy becomes cashless, a central bank could request a change in its governing legislation to remove the obligation to supply cash to the public on demand (which is a significant step). In that case, in the absence of cash and of an obligation to supply it, a central bank would be able to lower interest rates to a more negative level than is currently possible to achieve stabilization or price stability goals.
Yes, on anyone who works to earn a wage rather than owning appreciating assets, basically.
I don't know, maybe it won't happen. But the signs are all pointing in that direction, so I'm kind of resigned to it going that way eventually. Probably it will start by restrictions on large cash transactions, and on owning or carrying large amounts of cash. Then fees for withdrawing paper cash from bank accounts. Perhaps retailers will be allowed to add fees for cash transactions, too. The last step would be deprecating cash altogether, allowing banknotes to be deposited but not withdrawn (withdrawals will be as a CBDC).
>Yes, on anyone who works to earn a wage rather than owning appreciating assets, basically.
People who work for their wage are utterly dependent on the benevolence of the rich who withhold their money from the market. Withholding money from being spent or saved is how you get unemployment and inequality. If anything people who work for money will appreciate that they are being paid and the people they pay will also appreciate it. The only people who won't appreciate are those who already have so much money they don't know what to do with it.
