Dennis Hastert aside, it shouldn't be a crime to take your own money out of the bank

[DFW]

26. It isn't a crime to take your own money out of the bank

There's just a reporting requirement, that's all.

It's the case in most countries now, although some over-eager agencies use it as an excuse to terrorize their population, and steal what they can.*

In the USA, it must be reported, but even on customs forms when you enter the country, explaining that you have to report if you are bringing in $10,000 or more in cash or negotiables, it specifically states that ANY amount is legal, it just needs to be reported.

One time, an auction firm back home in Dallas freaked out when they held a rare coin auction in California. Some Russian guy bought some high priced rarities for $300,000 and opened up a briefcase full of cash with which to pay for them. He showed them the customs form stating clearly that he had declared the cash when he entered the country. The auction firm accepted the cash and made a photocopy of the customs declaration. When they brought the cash to their bank in Dallas, the bank freaked out, too, but accepted the customs declaration, and filled out the paperwork. When the yearly audit came, the IRS examined the documents, said everybody had done what the law required, and declared they were happy with the compliance.

That said, I agree in principle that if it's your money, you came by it legally, and have no intention of avoiding any kind of law when you do whatever it is you planned to do with it, you should be allowed to do so without the KGB looking over your shoulder all the time. In my experience in the States, however, in recent years, there are very few transactions that would warrant amounts of cash over $10,000. Everyone seems to have a credit card or at least a checking account. Sure, if someone wants to show off at a fancy wedding or restaurant there might be occasion to need over $10,000, but that's more the exception than the rule.

*The one case that brought this to mind was when an acquaintance of mine was raided and dumped in jail for three weeks (no charges, they can do that with no reason in Belgium). He was detained on suspicion of "money laundering." He owns a precious metals business, which means he works with large sums of money on razor thin margins and works with banks who sometimes refuse to even wait 24 hours for a wire to clear. They need cash by the close of the business day- So, his business had withdrawn 900 million euros over the course of a couple of years--from the Central Bank of Belgium!! Hardly the Belgian institution most likely to be looking to launder money. After three weeks in a jail cell, held on no charges at all, he came before an appeals judge. The authorities started yelling about 900 million euros. The guy addressed the judge, asking if there was any logic at all to obtaining money from the country's central bank in order to somehow make it black, with the intention of subsequently laundering it white again. The judge agreed that the scenario was ludicrous. The cops started whining about "900 million euros!!" and the judge reminded them that the money's origin had been explained and backed up by government documents. Since they couldn't provide any argument why the guy needed further incarceration, the judge ordered him set free immediately, wondering why he had been locked up in the first place. After all, he was a white guy in Brussels, not a black guy in Georgia.

This is happening all over France and Belgium these days, by the way. When merchandise is seized, somehow there is always less of it when it is returned after the (almost inevitable) finding that the victim had not done anything wrong. Sometimes, they really get creative. They once seized about $10 million of top grade diamonds from a Jewish diamond dealer Antwerp, kept them for two or three years, "found" that the guy was innocent, and returned his diamonds. Only-- they had somehow magically been transformed from gem quality diamonds to industrial quality diamonds (worth less than 10% of the original value) while in police custody. The leader of the Socialists in the Belgian Senate, an acquaintance of mine, told me the government knew about it, but couldn't do anything about it. She didn't elaborate, but I got the feeling she thought it wasn't healthy to delve into such cases too deeply.

You think WE have it bad? There's a lot more (or less, depending on how you look at it) to that country than chocolate, waffles and the canals of Brugge.