Having served up skywriting to the PM, Joseph Daoud is back in Canberra – this time taking a swing at the controversial card surcharge ban
Sydney mortgage broker Joseph Daoud has turned his campaigning machine on the card surcharge ban, launching a national TV and billboard push as federal parliament returns for a sitting week in Canberra.
The campaign, run under the ‘Stop The Ambition Tax’ banner, pairs Daoud, founder of It’s Simple Finance, with tax agent Belinda Raso, co-founder of TaxInvest Accounting, which operates on the Gold Coast and in Newcastle.
A 30-second TV commercial featuring more than 30 small business owners speaking from their own premises is running nationally, while billboards at Canberra Airport greet arriving MPs and senators with a single line: “Stop putting a surcharge on running a small business.”
Raso said she went looking for someone with a track record of getting Canberra’s attention. “When I saw what this was doing to my clients, I knew we needed someone who had already taken on Canberra and won. So I picked up the phone to Joe.”
Daoud has been inundated with calls since the ban took effect. “I had hundreds of small business owners reach out to me to help them get their concerns out on this new surcharge ban. They made the surcharge illegal and the cost unavoidable. Only in Canberra could you call that a saving.”
What is the card surcharge ban?
Since 1 October, businesses have been barred from surcharging customers who pay by eftpos, Visa, Mastercard or American Express.
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) did not outlaw surcharges directly. Instead, it allowed card networks to enforce “no surcharge” rules on merchants, and all four networks did so.
What the ban has not removed is the cost of accepting cards. The RBA estimates around 16% of Australian businesses surcharge, and they must now absorb that cost or build it into their prices.
The card surcharge ban has left builders with a bitter aftertaste, with industry groups warning the pressure on cash flow could flow through to housing supply.
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) became a flashpoint in the saga after announcing it would stop accepting credit cards for tax payments, with commissioner of taxation Rob Heferen saying the office could not absorb card costs indefinitely.
The ATO initially set a cut-off of 30 November. Following a backlash from business groups and the Coalition, treasurer Jim Chalmers intervened to delay the ATO’s credit card payment ban, allowing the tax office to keep taking card payments until 30 June 2027.
But Raso, who launched a petition to the House of Representatives calling for the payment option to be kept, said the delay fell short.
“The ATO’s nine-month band-aid just isn’t good enough. Delaying a bad decision doesn’t make it a good one. Small businesses use credit cards to manage cash flow and pay their tax on time. They need certainty, not a stay of execution.”
The campaign also points to Australian Bureau of Statistics data showing 375,331 businesses closed in 2025–26, up from 370,500 the previous year. The figures land on a small business sector already shifting into survival mode.
Daoud’s track record
The surcharge campaign is the latest chapter for a broker who has spent much of 2026 in Canberra’s line of sight.
Daoud founded Stop the Ambition Tax in May in response to the federal government’s capital gains tax (CGT) and negative gearing changes.
He first spent more than $17,000 on billboard advertising inside Canberra Airport during a May sitting week, then won a charity auction to face prime minister Anthony Albanese on the tennis court.
Before the match at The Lodge on 8 September, Daoud commissioned skywriting reading “STOP THE TAX” over Parliament House, with a “STOP TAXING AMBITION” banner flown over Brisbane in the treasurer’s electorate of Rankin.
“Last time it took skywriting over Parliament House before anyone listened. I’ve still got the pilot’s number,” Daoud said (or perhaps foreshadowed?).
