Merchants should be able to tout their prices

When a customer swipes plastic to pay, the retailer is almost always assessed a fee by the credit card company. So some merchants charge less when people pay cash. If they advertise that option, it’s against the law — a law that’s now being challenged.

A lawyer for a Broome County hair salon told the state Court of Appeals last week the advertising restriction criminalizes speech that truthfully conveys prices. It also makes little sense.

Whether it’s called a surcharge for using credit or a discount for paying cash, both prices should be allowed as long as they’re truthfully disclosed. The state’s top court should throw out the law and let people decide themselves whether the price of using credit is worth the cost.