Archives
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Tax bill proposal for finding merchants’ supposedly underreported cash receipts
A proposal, which is still being refined in House and Senate iterations, would force “qualified payment facilitators” to disclose information (file forms similar to current 1099 income forms) about each of their merchant clients’ receipts to the Internal Revenue Service for tax purposes with the idea to help identify taxable but unreported or under-reported sales.
With this bill, merchants and businesses can simply expect more tax code complexity and higher tax compliance costs. We would all be better off under the FairTax (www.fairtax.org)! more
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The Costs of Card Payments
The public debate continues over government regulation of the card payment networks built by MasterCard and Visa.
With more than a million new merchants signing up to accept payment cards in the past year, it is argued that the network effect balance of setting Interchange high enough to provide the banks an incentive to issue the cards, but not so high that merchants won't accept them, is working.
A major factor behind retailers' objections is that as consumers use credit and debit cards more frequently and that the fees have also increased as the card companies have upgraded more consumers to rewards cards, which carry higher fees. more
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Discover Network joins the Vantage Points program starting May 2008
Vantage Points are redeemable for over 250 great rewards from distinguished program partners like: American Airlines, Marriott, Hyatt, Staples, The Home Depot®, Starbucks Coffee and more. In addition, Vantage Card Services has teamed up to help support the tremendous efforts of the Atlanta Community Food Bank (ACFB) with a fund raising initiative to donate a percentage of the value of each reward to the ACFB.
If … more
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Credit Card Fair Fee Act would regulate fees
As more consumers choose payment cards for purchases, retailers push for government regulation. Is this a good thing? more