The credit card service charge is not a tax but a processing fee charged by the bank and the credit card processor. The County does not keep any of the service charges; it is passed entirely on to third parties. While the County would like to offer credit card payments free of charge, the County cannot charge all taxpayers for credit card use by a few individual taxpayers. Hence, only the individual using the card is charged. There have always been costs associated with using credit cards, but for most businesses, these costs are included in the price of the goods sold.