News

Oregon county commissioners consider credit cards for licenses and taxes

March 30, 2005

The Oregonian: Clark County commissioners, who want to accept credit card payments for everything from property taxes to dog licenses, have run into a big obstacle: bank fees. The obvious answer - add the fee to the payment - clashes with a basic credit card rule: Merchants accepting the cards cannot discriminate. That means a map or vaccination or building permit must cost the same whether the customer is using cash or credit. The goal is to accept credit cards for property taxes, permits, fees for services and court fines. Steve Dahlberg, county project manager for the switch to credit cards, said there is no fee on Internet payments, so one solution could be accepting cash and checks at one counter of the county office while directing credit card customers to a nearby vendor's Internet computer kiosk. Click here to read the full story.