Minister won’t concede credit card surcharge ban was a mistakeThe government is facing mounting questions over its ban, with the ATO moving to restrict credit card payments.4 min read

7NEWS10-09 00:00

Environment Minister Murray Watt has refused to admit the government got its credit card surcharge ban wrong, despite mounting concerns from small businesses. Watt was repeatedly pressed by Sunrise ...

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You can change this with a stroke of a pen. You can change this with a decision.“Small businesses are crying out for a change. They are asking for your help.”Watt argues small businesses are paying lessWatt rejected the suggestion the government was adding to the pressure on small businesses, arguing payment processing fees had also been reduced.“We have actually reduced taxes for small businesses and, in fact, the surcharges that small businesses are charging their customers when you go and get your coffee have been reduced under this government,” he said.“So, it’s not all","collect":0,"end_time":0,"defaultTopTitle":"7news.com.au","property":[],"viewcount":null,"language":"en","relate_stocks":{"BK4197":"燃气公用事业","BK4588":"碎股","ISCB":"iShares Morningstar Small-Cap ETF","ATO":"ATMOS能源公司","BK4585":"ETF&股票定投概念","LU2362540622.SGD":"WELLINGTON NEXT GENERATION GLOBAL EQUITY \"A\" (SGDHDG) ACC","LU2362541273.HKD":"WELLINGTON NEXT GENERATION GLOBAL EQUITY \"A\" (HKD) ACC","LU2362541513.USD":"WELLINGTON NEXT GENERATION GLOBAL EQUITY \"A\" (USD) ACC"},"translate_title":"部长不会承认信用卡附加费禁令是个错误 随着澳大利亚税务局（ATO）采取行动限制信用卡支付，政府因其禁令面临越来越多的质疑。","themeId":null,"isJumpTheme":false,"ttsUrl":null,"symbols_score_info":{"ISCB":0.9,"ATO":1.5},"content_text":"Environment Minister Murray Watt has refused to admit the government got its credit card surcharge ban wrong, despite mounting concerns from small businesses.\nWatt was repeatedly pressed by Sunrise host Nat Barr on Friday over growing backlash to the ban, which prevents businesses from passing credit card processing fees directly on to customers. WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Labor divided over ATO credit card banKnow the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today ArrowThe Australian Taxation Office has also announced it will stop accepting credit card payments for tax debts from November 30.Barr challenged Watt over reports the ATO consultation with business groups on this move had been little more than a formality.\n\nWatt said the government expected the ATO to properly consult with businesses.“It’s got to be meaningful, it’s got to involve listening to people, and that’s exactly what we expect of the ATO,” he said.“I’m aware that the government, through various ministers who are responsible, is still engaging with the ATO about this and I’m sure that those ministers will make their expectations clear.”Barr asked whether the government was “getting heavy” with the ATO.“We were very clear with the ATO when they first proposed this that they needed to have a transition plan, that they needed to work properly with the business community, and I’m sure that those expectations will be reinforced,” Watt said.Watt was repeatedly pressed by Sunrise host Nat Barr on Friday over growing backlash to the ban. Credit: SunriseBe the first to know: Add 7NEWS as your preferred news source on Google‘Who is in charge?’Opposition deputy leader Jane Hume said small businesses were already struggling with rising costs and warned the surcharge ban could be the “straw that broke the camel’s back”.“The absurdity of (Treasurer) Jim Chalmers’ credit card surcharge ban is of course that they’re expecting small businesses to absorb ... the increased cost of credit cards but they’re telling the ATO that they can do something different,” Hume said.“The inconsistency and the hypocrisy abounds.”Hume pointed to conflicting messages from within the government, including Housing Minister Clare O’Neill saying she had concerns about the ATO’s decision and Cabinet Secretary Andrew Charlton backing it.“The real question in here is who is in charge?” Hume said.“The ATO is a government agency and Murray, you’re the government. You can change this with a stroke of a pen. You can change this with a decision.“Small businesses are crying out for a change. They are asking for your help.”Watt argues small businesses are paying lessWatt rejected the suggestion the government was adding to the pressure on small businesses, arguing payment processing fees had also been reduced.“We have actually reduced taxes for small businesses and, in fact, the surcharges that small businesses are charging their customers when you go and get your coffee have been reduced under this government,” he said.“So, it’s not all doom and gloom.”Barr challenged him on that point.“Murray, small businesses now can’t pass on the surcharge so they now are swallowing the surcharge. So how are the small businesses paying less?” she asked.Watt argued the impact had been overstated, pointing out most businesses did not previously charge a surcharge.“Well again Nat, more than four out of five businesses do not already charge surcharges. So the idea that every small business is now absorbing a charge is simply not correct,” he said.Barr pushed back, saying businesses had told Sunrise they were already grappling with steep increases in insurance, interest, wages, electricity and fuel costs, leaving them at “tipping point”.Watt said the government recognised businesses were facing higher costs but pointed to global economic pressures and measures Labor had introduced to support Australians.Watt refused to concede the policy was a mistake.He argued it was up to councils to justify any decisions around payment arrangements for ratepayers.“For starters, it’s obviously up to councils to justify if they’re going to be taking decisions around payment arrangements that they impose on their ratepayers,” he said.He instead pointed to a reduction in the processing fees charged by banks to businesses.“One of the things that’s been ignored in this debate, Nat, is that the processing payment fees that banks charge to their business customers have been significantly reduced as part of this change,” he said.“So, the idea that small businesses or councils or anyone else is all of a sudden having to absorb all of those charges is simply not correct.”Calls to keep credit card paymentsHume argued the government should focus on ensuring Australians could continue using credit cards to pay their bills, rather than restricting the payment method.“The ATO needs to lift the ban on using credit cards,” she said.“The ATO should accept credit cards. Schools should accept credit cards. Local councils should accept credit cards.”She said any fees should instead be made transparent to consumers.“I don’t think you can entirely ban them from it but you should make it entirely transparent,” Hume said.‘Every chance’ surcharge ban could fuel inflation as coffee prices rise2 min readCoalition’s migration plan branded ‘ridiculous fantasy’ in fiery debate3 min read","kind":"highlight","is_publish_news":true,"is_publish_highlight":false,"is_publish_live":false,"is_publish_wemedia":false,"editions":null,"column":"","sentiment":"0","news_tag":"","news_rank":0,"isVideo":false,"video":null,"symbols":[],"gpt_button":0,"need_auth":false,"need_login_tip":false,"code":"91000000","status":"200"},"commentList":[],"isCommentEnd":true,"newsSizeData":{"likeSize":0,"commentSize":0,"repostSize":0,"favoriteSize":0,"likeStatus":false,"favoriteStatus":false},"APP":{"userAgent":"Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; ClaudeBot/1.0; +claudebot@anthropic.com)","isDev":false,"isTTM":true,"isLaohu8Offline":false,"tenantId":"TBGLOBAL","deviceId":"web-server-community-laohu8-v3","version":"4.50.1","shortVersion":"4.50.1","platform":"web","vendor":"web","appName":"ttm","isIOS":false,"isAndroid":false,"isTiger":false,"isTHS":false,"isWeiXin":false,"isWeiXinMini":false,"isWeiBo":false,"isQQ":false,"isBaiduSwan":false,"isBaiduBox":false,"isDingTalk":false,"isToutiao":false,"isOnePlus":false,"isHuaWei":false,"isXiaomi":false,"isXiaomiWebView":false,"isOppo":false,"isVivo":false,"isSamsung":false,"isMobile":false},"href":"/m/news/2674984886","isCrawlerRequest":true}