It astonishes me that the abolition of card payment fees seems such a surprise to some organisations (“New payment rules could force renters into arrears”, October 5).
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rules → astonish → arrears
The fee changes were announced six months ago but it’s only now that Macquarie Bank and the ATO have told anyone that they’ll no longer accept credit cards, forcing renters, strata levy payers and all those with shortly upcoming tax bills to find alternatives.
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they → announce → alternatives
No doubt other big players will soon do likewise.
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players → do → ?
Even small businesses should have known about the changes ages ago, informed (one would have thought) by the very banks and card companies that turned fee gouging into such an annoying art form.
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that → know → form
Meanwhile, those providers will all deflect criticism while adjusting prices and cardholders’ ancillary goodies to maintain their bottom lines, and customers who relied on credit cards will have to find different ways to pay their bills.
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who → deflect → bills
Adrian Connelly, Springwood
How are tenants expected to pay their rent without using a credit card?
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tenants → expect → card
Yes, they can do a direct debit through their bank, but often these are not reliable regarding funds in the account.
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these → do → account
So frustration and despair are again heaped on people trying to pay bills.
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frustration → heap → bills
Can you win?
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you → win → ?
Marjie Williamson, Blaxland
My first experience of changes to the credit card surcharge came about when I bought a coffee from a local cafe.
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I → come → cafe
Until last week, the coffee cost $6.50 plus an 8¢ surcharge, hence $6.58, which equates to a 1.23 per cent credit card surcharge.
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which → cost → surcharge
The coffee I bought on Saturday cost $6.60, up 2¢.
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I → buy → 6.60
If the cafe was being charged a 1.23 per cent surcharge by the bank until September 30, the maximum surcharge allowable under the new regulations is now 0.3 per cent and the coffee should have decreased to $6.52.
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coffee → charge → 6.52
It would appear the cafe has taken the opportunity to implement a small increase in the price under the guise of complying with the no-surcharge law.
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cafe → appear → law
I guess this will occur across the range of businesses that previously applied the credit card surcharge.
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that → guess → surcharge
I don’t know what large companies that haven’t previously added a surcharge will do if their credit card surcharge does drop to 0.3 per cent.
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surcharge → know → cent
The usual suspects say ending credit card surcharges will bring businesses to their knees – apparently the end of the world is nigh.
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end → say → world
Nobody has challenged the fact that customers should never have been charged the full bank rate in the first place.
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customers → challenge → place
Because the bank charge is an impost on business, this can be legitimately claimed as a deduction when a proprietor’s tax return is submitted.
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return → claim → deduction
Customers should only have ever had to pay the bank charge less what the government reimburses the business as a tax write-off.
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government → have → off
Somehow I think businesses will survive.
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businesses → think → ?
Life goes on.
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Life → go → ?
Ray Armstrong, Tweed Heads South
No surcharge, but the cost of our weekly coffee shop treat rose on Saturday.
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cost → rise → Saturday
The Angus Taylor-led Liberals are on a path to extinction.
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Liberals → lead → extinction
Polls for quite some time have shown they languish on less than 20 per cent of the vote.
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they → show → vote
Last week, the best they had was to criticise the removal of the credit card surcharge, a universal irritant to voters.
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they → have → voters
Where are the big ticket reforms that Australia so needs to overcome our cost of living crisis, ballooning debt, rising interest rates, red tape and low productivity?
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Australia → need → crisis
Labor is a sitting duck on all of these, having failed on all fronts.
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Labor → sit → fronts
Perhaps the Liberals could start by adopting the 2010 Henry Tax Review recommendations to drop about 100 small taxes and concentrate on the handful of taxes that raise nearly all the revenue.
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that → start → revenue
Removing a multitude of smaller taxes would cut compliance costs and supercharge productivity.
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Removing → remove → productivity
That would excite the electorate – finally, a party prepared to introduce real reform.
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That → excite → reform
Our government urban designers must have a very limited vocabulary, as they constantly revert to building “vibrancy”, this time at Sydney Olympic Park, where the population will be upped from the current 5000 residents to an estimated 20,000 – at least until the next planning thought-bubble.
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population → have → bubble
I don’t see a lot of vibrancy looking into a deep wet hole in the ground, aka the Brick Pit, but I’m sure it’s a haven for wildlife such as mozzies.
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it → see → mozzies
Despite this, the “vibrant” makeover includes a proposed “nighttime vibe” and even a “daytime vibe” (honestly, you can make this stuff up).
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you → include → stuff
What a delight for this long-time author to read about all those passionate book lovers (“‘They’re my babies’: The surprising reasons we still love physical books”, October 4).
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we → read → books
I still have my Grade 4 book prize, my Arthur Mee children’s encyclopedia and, as I travelled the world, I always inscribed the date and the city where I bought books.
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I → have → books
My prize is a signed copy of Perestroika from when I met Mikhail Gorbachev.
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I → sign → Gorbachev
This week there was a wonderful documentary on NITV, Backtrack Boys, which addresses the problem of youth crime (Letters, October 5).
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which → be → crime
We should all be supporting Bernie Shakeshaft’s idea of giving our youth a feeling of worth.
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We → support → worth
Excluded by an oath
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Excluded → exclude → oath
…and 55 more, not listed.
The Aporia
