The blog explores the recent proposal put up by the GST Council to charge payment aggregators 18% GST for enabling small-value digital transactions up to ₹2,000 that are done using credit and debit cards. It investigates how this action can affect different parties, such as customers, merchants, and payment aggregators. The article also addresses the possibility of a shift in payment preferences in favor of options like UPI, which is not currently subject to these tax ramifications. It also emphasizes the background of the 2016 service tax exemption on small-value digital transactions, which was implemented to encourage the use of digital payments in India.