Australian Financial Review 

7 October 2026 

Labor has handed small business the bill for card ban.

The Australian Taxation Office’s blindsiding ban on card payments confirms why small business needs legislative protection from Canberra’s ignorance. 

Under the mirage of acting on cost of living the Albanese government pushed for a ban on retailers passing on payment fees that banks and payment platforms charge, which came into force on October 1. 

The Reserve Bank obliged and formally announced a ban on surcharging fees from retailers in March this year, and gave about six months for implementation. 

The fees didn’t disappear. Profit-laden banks and payment providers continued to charge fees for their services. Small businesses had to absorb it all and have been left with an outsized bill. 

Yet they are in the least capable position to absorb higher costs. We already have near record insolvencies with about seven collapsing every business hour, and many more small businesses voluntarily closing their doors under economic stress. 

The most recent data shows business has seen a 15 per cent collapse in real profitability under the Albanese government, and many have profitability margins as low as 1-2 per cent. 

And, to feed its rapacious appetite for revenue, the Albanese government has set the ATO onto small businesses like a pack of Rottweilers making their cash flow even worse. 

If small businesses felt they were a mere afterthought of the Albanese government, the ATO’s decision to ban credit card payments for tax bills confirmed they are being targeted. 

The Albanese government is hiding behind the ATO’s claim that it is “not tenable for the ATO to absorb the costs associated with accepting credit cards”. But this is pure political spin. 

The ATO could allow credit card payments. It would just have consequences. Taxpayers would have to absorb the surcharging cost exactly as they’re expecting the cafe owner or travel agent to do. 

Alternatively, they could admit that their ban on surcharge fees is pure fiction, and pass the cost on when people pay by credit card. 

Pride won. So, instead, they simply banned payments, threw small business under the bus, and set a double standard where there’s one rule for Canberra, and another for the community. 

Many businesses finance their tax bills on their credit card to manage short-term cash flow. Yet with little notice the government told small business that payment pathway would end, leaving them high and dry. 

Small businesses are already struggling with the cash flow consequences of payday super that has turned a quarterly bill to a monthly or fortnightly one. 

Cash flow is king for small businesses. The surcharge ban has compounded these costs, and the cash flow crunch. 

At a deeper level it reveals the disinterest in Canberra about the consequences and implementation of government decisions impacting small business. 

That was evident following the federal budget. The Albanese government has been shamed into four backflips, particularly because of the impact on small business. 

And they still don’t know how to implement their higher capital gains tax on early-stage start-ups and minimum taxes on trusts. 

There needs to be a complete mindset shift to protect small businesses. 

That’s why the Coalition has proposed a Small Business Act as a shield for small and family businesses against Canberra. 

A Small Business Act would rebalance economic decision-making back to small and family businesses, and the self-employed. 

We are consulting on a single definition for small business that is more realistic on revenue and employment thresholds, and the “right to be paid” to ensure maximum payment periods from corporates and Canberra. 

It would also include a “right to bid” that sets minimums for government contract work that must go to small businesses on volume or thresholds, and critically a “right to be heard” so that business is consulted on decisions impacting them. 

This week would have been a perfect example, where the ATO would have been compelled to consult small business before pulling a payment option, instead of a midnight press release on the day the surcharge ban commenced. 

We need small business voices inside regulators, including the ATO too. 

A Small Business Act could also include ending the trickle-down regulation that Canberra is imposing on big business down to small business, from obliging modern slavery compliance to scope 3 emissions reporting. 

It could also become a vehicle to drive industrial relations reform to finally give small business a chance against the rigged rules that favour unions over workers and their employers. 

The self-starters of Australia are the biggest drivers of employment, productivity and innovation. Yet they’re consistently forgotten by Canberra. The ATO has exposed this problem perfectly. We now need to fix it and stand with small.