It's not in any way a tax. It's a fee you pay for a service you wish to use. It's as much a tax as the money spent on a doughnut is a tax.
The rest of your idea is great. Wish I had access to something like that.
this post was submitted on 15 Mar 2025
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I call it a tax because the charge is a percentage of the transaction instead of a flat fee. The fact that Interac can charge a flat fee shows that it is possible.
The "tax" is only accepted because consumers can't see it, and then we're offered rewards like the percent cash back. That's our own damn money they're rewarding us with!
I've known some methane who claim that they also have a flat fee, even from visa and MasterCard. So it can certainly be done.
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I have the same question as sloppychops. If my interac debit card is also Visa, how would I know whether the payment terminal is routing through Visa or Interac?
I am one who offers to pay in cash sometimes to small businesses, treating it like an additional tip. But more and more businesses in the Vancouver area use Clover (A Canadian subsidiary owned by Wells Fargo) and Square (American fintech), and either take card only (which they get their cut with Interac debit too), or the staff get a little impatient when I rummage around for cash in my wallet.
I checked my bank for that recently. If you tap or use your PIN in Canada, it's Interac. Everything else is VISA.
Even if we dumped all online transactions and used cash for in person transactions, there isn't enough cash in circulation. Less than 3% of US dollars are printed on paper. The rest is just numbers on spreadsheets. There is no way we could function without electronic payments. This is true in almost every country that has a central bank that engages in fractional reserve banking.
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Cryptocurrencies?
I mean, how long would it be until the next fascist Canadian prime minister?
Better to just get the government out of our wallets.
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