OCC Rules Contradict President Trump’s Affordability Agenda
Arlington,
VA - Today, FMI –
The Food Industry Association condemned
in the strongest terms the action taken by the Office of the Comptroller of the
Currency (OCC), banking regulators under the U.S. Treasury
Department, to issue two interim final
rules that override the Illinois swipe fee reform law and to
prohibit other states from enacting swipe
fee reform laws.
FMI
President and CEO Leslie G. Sarasin stated, “At a time when the largest banks
and credit card networks are pulling in record profits on the backs
of grocers, main street businesses and millions of
American consumers through credit card swipe fees, it is
incredibly shortsighted that the OCC banking regulators
chose to pursue an opaque end-run around state lawmakers and the
Courts at the behest of the credit card networks and the
nation’s largest banks.”
Grocers and
other merchants act as state and local governments’ agents in the
collection and submission of state and local sales and excise taxes. The
Illinois Interchange Fee Prohibition Act, set to take effect this
summer, prohibits the imposition of credit card swipe fees on the state
and local sales and excise tax and gratuities portion of
any sale in the state. Other states are considering similar
legislation.
Sarasin continued, “Grocers
and consumers are being taxed twice for this official government duty by having
to pay credit card swipe fees to the card networks and nation’s
largest banks just because we are a pass-through agent for state and local
government taxes. In 2024 alone, these taxes on taxes resulted
in nearly $11 billion in swipe fees to the card networks
and largest banks on sales tax collection. OCC’s
action is particularly alarming considering President Trump has
prioritized bringing down costs for businesses and the customers they rely on
by endorsing the Credit Card Competition Act (CCCA) to reform the
credit card market.”
She
concluded, “We urge the OCC to rescind this egregious tax on a tax
rulemaking that flies in the face of President Trump’s agenda on affordability
and focus its efforts instead on the predatory practices of these financial
institutions.”
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