Hanson and Spender united in demand for Tax Office ban reversal

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson and teal MP Allegra Spender have made a rare unified demand after the taxation office announced its plan to ban the use of credit cards for the payment of tax bills.

Industry Minister Tim Ayres on Friday defended the move, blaming “profiteering” credit card companies for forcing the Australian Taxation Office’s hand amid growing anger on social media over Labor’s banning of card surcharges.

The Reserve Bank of Australia on Thursday banned surcharges for Mastercard, Visa and eftpos networks, after a campaign from Labor the government said would save consumers $1.6 billion a year. As of October 1 merchants can no longer charge additional fees on checkout, which the Albanese government argues will save consumers money at the till.

The move immediately prompted backlash from small business operators who say they will be forced to pass along charges to consumers in the upfront cost of goods and services. The RBA argues the transfer of charges to product pricing will inflate costs by around 0.1 per cent.

The tax office subsequently announced a plan to ban credit card transactions from November 30, saying in a statement: “As a government agency, the ATO has decided it would not be appropriate for the cost of credit card merchant fees to be transferred to the community,” an agency statement reads.

The tax office said only 2.3 per cent of tax payments were made with credit cards in the 2024-25 financial year, and that 60 per cent of those charges were made by large organisations.

“The credit card companies are charging too much, and that is a charge, ultimately, on the taxpayers because the ATO has to pay it. It’s a charge on Australian taxpayers. It’s not the right thing to do,” Ayres told News24 on Friday.

“There are alternative ways of paying, and the ATO will work through that with their customers and their stakeholders.”

Spender on Friday called for the decision to be reversed, saying the ATO was acting hypocritically.

“I’m hearing that all the time from people in my community who are small business [owners], and it’s particularly cash flow that is really hard to manage. So this is where I think the ATO should reverse this,” Spender told Nine’s Today show on Friday.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson echoed Spender’s comments, saying the move was an “unintended consequence because [Labor] never think anything through”, as she joined calls from the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry for the decision’s reversal.

“Businesses are expected to absorb these fees, while the ATO avoids them by withdrawing credit-card payments,” Hanson said.

Opposition Leader Angus Taylor said the government was “insensitive”, as he sought to blame the decision on a lack of business experience from Labor MPs.

“On the day that [Labor] impose these surcharges on small businesses, has decided that the ATO won’t take credit card payments because they don’t want the surcharges. I mean, seriously, you couldn’t make it up,” Taylor said.

Several social media posts have gone viral accusing the government of inadvertently inflating the price of products, comically depicting business owners rolling merchant fees into the base cost of products. The campaign mimics one deployed following Labor’s alterations to the capital gains tax discount in the May budget.

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