Fine Gael has criticised the Government over stamp duty on credit and ATM cards, claiming it is costing consumers over €100 million a year.
Meath West TD Damien English says the Government has no justification in imposing such taxes when it should to be encouraging consumers to move to electronic forms of payment that are more secure.
He said the fact that consumers have paid out €100 million a year since 2004 in stamp duty was proof that the Fianna Fáil-led coalition was anything but a low-tax Government.
Mr English called on the Government to make a commitment in the budget not to extend stamp duty to other forms of electronic payment in the future, such as electronic integrated tickets.
Stamp duty on ATM and credit cards was introduced by the Fianna Fáil-PD coalition government in the 2003 budget in response to a slowdown in tax revenues.
