We bloody well told you this would happen!
MBIE officials warned government surcharge ban could push up prices
The government was warned by officials that a card payment surcharge ban could push up prices and put pressure on small businesses.
The government plans to ban surcharges on card payments for in-person payments.
Legislation is expected to be introduced to Parliament by the end of the year, with the ban to kick into effect no later than May 2026.
But advice released to RNZ under the Official Information Act shows that Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) officials warned that there could be problems with the ban.
They also recommended the ban be limited to only in-person debit card payments, not credit cards.
MBIE officials said they were not aware of any other jurisdiction that had banned surcharges across all payment methods.
The Commerce Commission has estimated that 30 percent of merchants apply a surcharge, for a combined $150 million a year.
Card surcharges are a Banking scam for the too posh to push crowd – make the bloody Banks pay!
Just like with the polluters, instead of ensuring those that are creating the cost pay for it, the Government makes the cost a user pays charge rather than tax the one causing the problem!
It’s not retailers who should be forced to take on the cost, it’s the fucking Banks who have created pay wave cards with a $200 threshold which is highly exploitable!
MAKE THE BANKS PAY!
MAKE THE BANKS WHO MAKE BILLION DOLLAR PROFITS PAY!
MAKE THE BANKS WHO HAVE CREATED A PIN-LESS CARD SYSTEM, THAT IS HIGHLY EXPLOITABLE TO THEFT PAY!
NOT! THE! RETAILERS!
Why is National incapable of making their rich mates pay for the social cost their rich mate products create?
The Banks created an easily exploited card system that is open for stealing and yet they make YOU pay?
Why you so easily played Kiwi?
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I agree with your argument and have voiced my concern at my MP who is National. National are the natural party of small businesses but this move will hurt them and with margins so tight it will cause more suffering.
You know prices will go up. I know prices will go up. Businesses know that prices go up. And we all know that bank profits will go up. Follow the money. . .
Who are the official light sleepers in this government, tasked with the job of dreaming up new laws and tax procurement vehicles in their sleeping hours, and then writing them down or speaking into a smart microphone, to be tidied and presented to a weekly meeting of Gnactionalz dunderheads with pretensions each week?
It would be simplicity itself to cap the fee at some reasonable level, as it is abroad, at about .5% of any transaction. No doubt National received a significant contribution not to do exactly that.
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