Michael Pfitzner

BREAKING: Jim Chalmers is politically a dead man walking, and this latest humiliation might just be the final nail in his coffin. The Treasurer has been forced into a humiliating backflip, admitting he was the architect behind the Australian Taxation Office timeline to ban credit card payments, only for Anthony Albanese to stage a midnight intervention. After massive backlash from business leaders and the Coalition, Albo dragged Chalmers into line, forcing the taxpayer to fund a temporary stay of execution until July next year. This isn't a one off error, it's a pattern of total incompetence. This marks the fifth time the Prime Minister has publicly humiliated his own Treasurer by forcing a policy retreat. Chalmers’ track record now reads like a laundry list of failed economic assaults The CGT hike on small businesses, the widows tax, the death tax, the trusts tax, and now, the ATO credit card ban disaster. The hypocrisy is staggering. While Labor claims their economy wide surcharge ban will save consumers $1.6 billion, business groups like ACCI and COSBOA have exposed it as “smoke and mirrors” If the ATO, backed by the taxpayer, can't afford to absorb credit card surcharge costs, how does Chalmers expect mum and dad small businesses to survive them? The Coalition is already moving legislation to permanently overturn the ban, refusing to let Labor just delay the inevitable. Albanese clearly has zero confidence in his Treasurer, and the business community has completely tuned him out. Architect of the mess. Overruled by the boss. Left to explain the retreat. Politically, Jim Chalmers is finished. How much longer can he survive in the job?