There’s a hidden tax to the cashless economy, Vox’s Eric Levitz writes, and it comes from credit card swipe fees. Stores feel compelled to accept credit cards, but they also can pass some of the fees onto customers as an invisible tax — with the money going to fund card reward plans that benefit higher-income customers. Europe caps those fees for this reason — and pending legislation in Congress, backed by the Trump administration, might give vendors at least a little more leverage to find lower ones.
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—Benjy Sarlin, editorial director