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Residents of Brisbane, Australia, who want to use credit cards to pay property taxes soon will find the task more expensive, as the Brisbane City Council has decided to impose a surcharge on such payments. More local, state and national governments around the world are facing the surcharge decision as they accept card payments for a wider variety of fees and taxes and residents prove more willing to pay with plastic. In Brisbane's case, the surcharge will amount to 0.0072 Australian cents for every Australian dollar (88 U.S. cents or 59 euro cents) charged, Adrian Schrinner, chairman of the council's finance and administration committee, tells CardLine Global. That translates into a surcharge of about AU$10.80 on a AU$1,500 tax bill. Brisbane's government pays about AU$2.5 million annually for card-acceptance costs, Schrinner says. "By introducing the surcharge, only people who use credit cards will incur the charges, which is fairer on the majority of ratepayers who do not use credit cards," he says, noting Brisbane has more than 400,000 taxable properties. Last year, the council recorded about 146,000 tax payments made with cards. Some governments tend to offer rebates to elderly residents. However, the surcharges will apply to pensioners, who already receive tax breaks, Schrinner says.
