Across Illinois, small business owners face tough choices every day to stay competitive in a rapidly changing economy. One of the most significant decisions many have made is to go cashless. Going cashless isn’t about chasing a trend; it’s about survival, safety, and efficiency.

Cash handling involves hidden costs: the hours spent counting, securing, and transporting bills, the risk of theft, and inevitable bookkeeping errors. In comparison, digital payments are quicker, safer, and easier to track for tax purposes. For an owner already juggling many responsibilities, every minute saved can be redirected toward serving customers and growing the business. Going cashless on-site also lowers the risk of robbery, making both employees and customers safer.

At a time when most consumers already pay with cards or digital wallets, cashless transactions reflect how people conduct business today. They simplify operations while building trust in safer, more dependable systems.

Unfortunately, recently passed state legislation, the Interchange Fee Prohibition Act (IFPA) risks undoing these achievements. The law prohibits banks and card networks from charging interchange fees on tax and tip parts of electronic transactions. While the goal might be to help businesses save money, the unintended effects could be serious — especially for the small businesses that form the backbone of Illinois’ economy.

To comply with this policy, processors would need to separate taxable or tipped portions from every transaction. No such system exists globally. Implementing one would require costly upgrades, introduce opportunities for errors, and ultimately raise compliance costs. For many small businesses, that burden might force a return to cash handling, reintroducing the very risks of theft and inefficiency that modern systems have helped eliminate.

Equally concerning, carving out portions of transactions undermines the integrity of electronic payment systems. Illinois businesses would face a unique and more fragmented set of rules, complicating fraud prevention and weakening the consistency that keeps digital payments safe.

If the goal of IFPA is to protect Main Street, lawmakers must also weigh its unintended costs: reduced security, higher compliance burdens, and the real risk of driving small businesses backward. Illinois cannot afford to jeopardize the safety and competitiveness of its business community.

Going cashless is not about convenience — it’s about protecting lives, livelihoods, and the communities that depend on small business success. We urge policymakers to work with employers, not against them, to ensure Illinois remains a state where innovation, security, and economic growth go hand in hand

• Lou Sandoval is CEO and president of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce.