On August 8, the New Orleans City Council passed an ordinance affecting bonds that art markets and festivals must pay to the City in order to operate. The ordinance modifies a law that has been on the books for decades, but until recently has not been enforced, requiring market organizers to secure a $10,000 bond (or pay a cash deposit) payable to the City Department of Finance as assurance that the marketplace will meet all sales tax requirements. The revisions to the ordinance (which exempt markets with less than 35 vendors, and a maximum of two vendors that take cash) added a condition where the value of the bond or cash deposit could be lowered for cashless markets, raising the possibility of entirely cashless art markets across the city. Cash-free business models exclude people who lack access to banking services, leave customers open to surveillance and “data brokering,” and leave merchants—in this case working artists operating on tight margins—on the hook for transaction fees. Massachusetts became the first state to ban cashless stores in 1978; now New Jersey, San Francisco, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Montana, New York City, Oregon, Philadelphia, Rhode Island, and Tennessee have banned them too. The following is a selection of online comments (minimally edited) submitted before the Council.
Prohibiting cash transactions is a classist tool used to eliminate members of the community that rely on cash and/or do not have a bank account or credit card. Tourists often prefer to carry cash while traveling abroad to avoid international transaction fees from their home banks. Additionally, electronic payments such as Venmo, Cash App, etc. are not available outside of the United States. Furthermore, small business owners in New Orleans already are operating at low profit margins. Louisiana has the highest sales tax in the country, and adding an additional percentage and fee from a credit card or electronic payment company is a huge burden for small businesses.1Dré G. (Once Around the Kitchen)
Prohibiting cash transactions will place an undue burden on small businesses and artists. The fees charged by virtual and physical credit card companies are steep and often there is a mismatch between what apps/card types small business[es] take and customers have! Not an issue with cash. Additionally many small businesses and artists do not have the volume of sales or profit margins to absorb these costs. Leave the artists and small businesses alone—they are not making enough money to support themselves half the time, much less take on the cost of a middle man between them and their sales.2Abigail R.
I don’t understand why we’re going after low income artists as a source of income for the city? Most vendors don’t make more than 200-300 dollars per market and that’s on a good day. Why is [it] worth throttling the art market in the city and taking away artists’ main form of income so the city can get 20 dollars? Most artists are already in poverty and this will only make it worse. If the city needs additional income this isn’t the way to get it, this is going to cause markets to shut down so the city wouldn’t get any tax funds anyway.3Seymone K. (Charm and Tassel)
There is no justification for holding an independent market organizer for a particular event responsible for all tax revenues from all cash sales of participating vendors. As written, the amendments would foist the burden to pay other vendors’ uncollected taxes on the individual artists and artisans who organize these market events, which triggers due process and equity concerns. These people are barely getting by with their own small arts and crafts businesses as it is. And while the idea of going cashless is great in theory, that means vendors who use services like Venmo would have to pay sales taxes to the city long before the money from their sales is even deposited in their bank accounts. In essence they would have to pay taxes with money they don’t yet have. Lastly, forcing “cash free” events also does not consider all the additional transaction fees the vendors will be assessed. Sometimes governmental “bean-counters” and revenue bureaucrats become so far removed from the practicalities and realities of actual businesses and what it takes for a business to survive, that they offer what they consider to be simple and reasonable “compromises” that simply could never work. This is one of those situations.4Andrew W.
Levying a $10,000 to $20,000 bond on small local art markets is completely unrealistic and would force most of them to close. You may as well build more Walmarts and tell visitors to find their New Orleans culture and inspiration there. Art markets serve a vibrant local community of creatives who come together to help each other survive in a city that caters more to tourists than to the people who actually live here. Artists and crafters who sell in the markets, and the managers who run them, aren’t making enough money to justify treating them like big businesses. To have a successful market, managers must pay for performers, venue rental and cleaning fees, ads and other promotional costs. We don’t charge entrance fees to shoppers because we’re doing this to serve OUR community.5Maegen G. (Piety Market [and ANTIGRAVITY contributor])
The new “regulation” of art markets is hurting the local artists that make this city what it is. We don’t make a lot of money per event or every month but we are a huge draw for tourists and locals in the city. Most of our sales are via credit card and we are independent business owners and should be responsible for our own taxes. To try to regulate cash intake sounds illegal and like you’re trying to hurt the local economy that keep[s] this community going. I pay my city and state taxes EVERY month. This is my only source of income and I’ve spent 10 years building this business, even losing it in the pandemic and rebuilding it to success again. Maybe instead of spending $22 million on “decorative” lights on a bridge that already has lights on it and is causing severe traffic issues you could find a better way to allocate the city’s money instead of coming after the small businesses that help keep the economy moving. You could also look into our elected representatives and see what they’re doing with finances for the city that don’t seem to be making it to the areas they should be. You’re already pricing us out of the city now we can’t even work. Don’t turn New Orleans into every other city in this country. Let the artists be. We pay for our licenses and permits and pay our taxes. We are honest and hardworking and create life in this city.6Alison W.
To follow up on this issue, you can email your City councilmembers. To submit a public comment, follow instructions at council.nola.gov. Interested in reading all comments after a meeting? You can email your councilmember or file a public records request.
illustration by Sadie Wiese
