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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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