Connecticut Cash Discount Bill Passes

It looks like the state’s fearless leaders will do anything, including failing to consider the consequences, in order to appear to be doing something about gas prices.  Seen in the Courant:

State legislators joined the crush of politicians eager to act on gasoline prices Thursday by permitting cash discounts and repealing a July 1 tax increase. [...]

The cash-discount provision was sought by retailers, who complained that some franchise agreements barred lower prices for customers paying cash.

Fox said the savings would come from eliminating credit card fees and other costs associated with credit. Retailers now lose two or three days of “float,” the time it takes to actually collect revenue on credit sales, he said.

“The cash customer now subsidizes the credit customer,” he said.

About 75 percent of retail gas purchases in Connecticut are made with credit cards.

Well, at least someone finally acknowledged the subsidy.

In an earlier post on the subject, I hypothesized a 50/50 cash/credit split, which would imply a dime discount for cash customers, and a dime increase for credit customers.  At a 75 credit / 25 cash mix…well, that’s a bit less of a hike for the plastic-wielders.

Still, I think this is quite a bit of fuss being generated over the privilege of charging us more for gas, disguised as an attempt to drive petrol costs down.