1% on payments and Tobin tax

One Portuguese organisation for restaurants (ARESP) recently made some hubub about the fee that is taken on electronic payments, ie with your credit card. There is only two companies in Portugal that do that. ARESP claim that the payments (over 1% of each payment) is eating up too much of the profit margin of meny of its member companies. They wrote to one minister and has also been in contact with Spanish banks that only charge 0.5%. Found on the national edition of Metro Portugal 2007-01-16.

Which reminds of the Tobin tax. Although in the case above the money goes straight into the bankers pockets.

Which makes we wonder why so many that are against the Tobin tax tries to do that in practical terms. Just subtract 0.1 or 0.01% of the transferred money (only for trade in currencies) should be very easy to do, at least in practise. At least all money transfer of USD has to go via US banks, so there is control already because of US anti-terrorism tactics.

Instead of just make the world trade instable by quick and erratic currency trade some money could be funneled into something more useful like microfinancing. Best way out of poverty is trade, trade for the poor, by the poor.