What’s at Stake in Pennsylvania
The Pennsylvania legislature is attempting to pass a law that would completely upend the way your credit and debit cards works – creating confusion for consumers, higher cost for small businesses and the potential for information about your private purchases to be shared. The proposal would create a carveout so the tax portion of an overall purchase is exempt from card processing costs known as interchange.
Businesses pay a small percentage of each purchase – approx. 2% – to process your credit and debit card transactions. That fraction is used to safeguard credit card networks, prevent fraud, and fund reward programs.
So why are politicians trying to change the easy, convenient, hassle-free credit and debit card system we rely on every day? Because the largest convenience store chains and corporate mega-stores are trying to pocket more money. But it means small businesses will have to pay for new card processing systems to save on a small fraction of transactions and consumers could have pay taxes in a separate transaction or with cash or check. Worse yet, to ensure your transaction is accurately processed under the new changes, businesses are going to have to share additional information about each and every purchase you make.
This is why no other state in the country or no other country around the world processes credit and debit card transactions this way. In fact, 29 other states have rejected this idea because of the impact and hurdles it would have on commerce across the state – just so the big guys can make more money.