> It's almost suggesting that it's morally wrong to use cash

Quite the opposite actually, it emphasizes the importance of such anonymity but also acknowledges that it also comes with problems for society.

> 0) Payments are final. Once you handed over cash, it cannot be taken back

First this isn't true, as most good comes with legal guarantee, retraction rights and so on. And then the near-final aspect of cash is also the reason why armed robberies works. (And yes I said near final, because the police routinely seize cash from people who got it illegally).

> 3) No tolling.

Cash is extremely expensive to handle for banks, and even if they don't charge you directly, they definitely factor this cost in what they charge to all their customers (business and individuals alike).

> First this isn't true, as most good comes with legal guarantee, retraction rights and so on.

Finality of the underlying transaction is a different concern than that of the means of payment.

Cash is indeed, at least in some jurisdictions, the only thing you can be sure to not have taken away from you when acquired bona fide, even if it turns out to have originally been stolen from its legitimate owner.

Practically, some other payment methods have similar guarantees, though (for example, you generally can't have money clawed back as a merchant accepting credit or debit cards in person).

> Quite the opposite actually, it emphasizes the importance of such anonymity but also acknowledges that it also comes with problems for society.

I think this is just a tongue-in-cheek argument by the author. The article suggests adding a penalty for using cash, which, given the highly competitive payments landscape, will effectively accelerate the phase-out.

Cynically, this could be read as making payment privacy exclusive to the better off, which has its own highly problematic implications.

Purely from the perspective of raising more government funds, I can understand their argument. But from that perspective, I think there are better, less disruptive ways for governments to extract value from the payments system.