When the Reserve Bank of Australia announced last week that it would ban all debit and credit card surcharges from October, RBA governor Michele Bullock framed it as overdue consumer relief.
What she did not say is that every small business in Australia that can no longer pass on card costs transparently will now build them into prices instead, feeding directly into the inflation measure Bullock herself is charged with taming.
It is the worst of criminal scams to ameliorate the charge. It is literally making the currency irrelevant and negotiable.
The most important transaction in business is the smallest in almost all circumstances. When the smallest viable transaction is raised it hurts a disproportionately large number of people and opportunities for a relative few in a meaningless way. There is no reason for this skimming scam to be passed on.
