May 15, 2007

NEWS: Taxes on Plastic for Grand Haven

Grand Haven, Michigan consumers will soon have things a bit easier, come tax time. While they may just be paying as much as ever in property taxes and city bills, they will soon be able to at least pay them with the help of plastic. The Grand Haven City Council approved 4-1 the measure to allow residents to put their tax bill son credit or debit cards. The lone objection came from a councilwoman who was concerned that residents could incur more debt by allowing them to put fees on their plastic.

City representatives said that the reason that the city had not accepted plastic payments up until this time was because they would have to absorb the processing fees that retailers generally pay and make back in business. The way that Grand Rapids is now avoiding this fee is by using a third-party service for card acceptance, which would allow the user to pay a fee to use it, thereby evading the issue of cost to the city. Official Payments Corp. of San Ramon, California, will be processing the city’s card transactions. Users of the system will be charged 3 percent of their tax bills for using credit or debit cards, $7.50 per $500 for public safety cost recovery payments, and $3 for every $200 spent on water and sewer bill payments and other fees. Grand Rapids citizens will be able to make payments via toll-free telephone number or directly through Official Payments' or the city's Web sites
 

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