The Coinage Act of 1965, specifically Section 31 U.S.C. 5103, entitled “Legal tender,” states: “United States coins and currency (including Federal reserve notes and circulating notes of Federal reserve banks and national banks) are legal tender for all debts, public charges, taxes, and dues.” – U.S. Department of the Treasury, Resource Center, Legal Tender Status
What are “public charges”?
Would parking meter fees and highway tolls be examples of public charges? How about court filing fees?
Or could it refer to any type of fee charged to the public: i.e., entry fees, services fees, fees for use, etc., whether collected by government or private business?
No, it could not be this, because businesses are free to decline payment by cash, or may specify only certain means of paying cash i.e. exact change only, for anything except a debt.
And curiously enough, people that pay things like traffic tickets with wheelbarrows full of pennies are seen in the news as having been arrested for things like disturbing the peace or the like. Are these folks ever formally tried? If so, have they been convicted? If so, has it been appealed, and what was the result of the appeal?
Usually with those stories it’s more than just “trying to pay with pennies” that gets them arrested, but that doesn’t make the headline. Last one I heard the guy started throwing his change at the counter person.
Really? They can demand a check or a credit card–or something else? What?
Some businesses will accept only credit cards. That way they don’t have to worry about identity, a bounced check or forgery. If you have a credit card, they know that some company has checked on your credit.
I believe the problem here is “legal tender.” Some methods of payments may be legal tender, but that does not mean that it is the legal tender that another entity has to accept. As per the link provided:
If a priavate business specifies that payment must be made in live chickens, you either go get some live chickens or you shop elsewhere.
It’s not just this. More broadly speaking, legal tender must be accepted only for debts. Declaring your intention to buy something in a store or online does not constitute a debt. If you walk into a store and say, “I’d like 10 widgets, please,” then the store is perfectly within its rights to say, “OK, you can have them only if you pay by credit card,” and to turn you away if you refuse those terms.
The US Visa Office has an interesting, but likely unrelated definition for “public charge”:
While the definition doesn’t seem to work, maybe the quote in the OP refers to “charge” as an individual… Probably not, but I’ve seen crazier things written by Cecil before.
You are correct. That is not what I meant. I saw that, too, and tried to think of how many ways I could make this non sequitur fit.
The whole thing about “Legal tender” somehow gets dudes all in a bother. The term is in there to prevent people from requiring gold, silver or even foreign currency, instead of paper dollars. However, this has not been a problem in the USA, thus there are no laws with penalties or requirements, etc.
Somewhere deep in the heart of banking regs, there is some FINRA or other reg that does specify that banks, etc may not require payment in gold, foreign currency, etc.
Yes, a business may decline cash and insist upon credit cards. For businesses that have large ticket items, this is more cost effective.
If there ever was a problem with businesses, etc, requiring gold or Euros and refusing US dollars (note that you do usually pay with US Dollars if you pay by CC), then I am sure the Gov’t would quickly step in and write regs about the issue. But it’s not a problem, in fact, US Dollars are likely the most accepted currency in the world.
I don’t think there is any doubt that the US dollar is the most accepted currency in the world.
I was just curious about what a “public charge” is. Is it like a traffic ticket or a license fee charged by the government? My county government won’t take cash to pay for an apartment license.
Just curious.
It’s not cash. It’s the US dollar. Will your county government accept payment in US dollars or does it insist upon Swiss Francs or gold bullion?
Now, currently, there’s no penalty if it did, but there certainly could be a stink raised.
They won’t take coins or currency. They insist on a check in U.S. dollars. Is there license fee a “public charge”?
(Not that I plan on raising a stink about it if it is a public charge. I’m just curious as to what is meant by a public charge.)
I’m not absolutely sure of this but I think that more than 50 1 cent coins is not considered legal tender. Therefore, when people try to pay fines with 1 cent coins they can be refused. I don’t have a cite. I would welcome one. Nickles, dimes, quarters, I don’t know?
Wild guess: in this context “public charge” has a meaning which is akin to “taxes” and “dues”; it refers to an inescapable obligation to make a payment to a public authority.
If this is so, then licence fees are not public charges because you can avoid them by not engaging in whatever activity it is that is to be licensed.
Thi was formerly true under the Legal Tender laws, where minor and silver coins had limits on to what value they were legal tender. (‘Nickels’ and minor silver pieces (under $1) had higher caps, in the several-dollars range.) That provision was omitted in the most recent Legal Tender Law definitions.