Penny elimination shifts small-transaction costs onto cash-dependent poor
H.R. 10167 — Common Cents Act · Filed by Lisa McClain (R-MI) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced Aug 27, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill stops the U.S. Mint from making new pennies for circulation (though existing pennies remain legal tender), allows cash transactions to be rounded to the nearest nickel (up or down depending on the final digit), and shields businesses and financial institutions from liability for following these rounding rules. It requires the Federal Reserve to report on how penny supply disruptions and rounding might affect low-income and unbanked communities.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core mechanism is dual: it halts penny production (a monetary/fiscal policy choice) and legalizes cash-transaction rounding (a consumer-transaction rule). The civic weight falls on the rounding regime and its distributional impact on cash-dependent populations.
What the text implies
- Rounding rules are optional for merchants but mathematically favor sellers on small transactions (1–2 cent rounding down, 3–4 cent rounding up creates asymmetry favoring the merchant over time).
- Low-income, elderly, unbanked, and underbanked populations—who rely disproportionately on cash—bear the cumulative cost of rounding across many small transactions.
The full analysis lists 5 implications of this text.
Who stands to gain
retail merchants and financial institutions (reduced handling and processing costs for pennies); U.S. Mint (reduced production and distribution costs)