In last December's budget, McCreevy announced that the stamp duty on credit cards would be increased from 19 euros to 40 euros, whilst duty on ATM and Laser cards would rise to 10 euros. It appears that this decision may have been prompted by the results of a poll in September 2002 that found that half of all card holders "never noticed" that the tax that was already in place.

According to reports, the tax increase will raise an additional 50 million euros, and has been harshly criticised by the Irish Banking Federation and other industry organisations. Despite this, the government has denied that the tax hike will have an adverse impact on the industry. A file released under the Freedom of Information act revealed that no formal objections to the measures were ever tendered by the banks.