As a consumer, I have finally hit the wall when it comes to “swipe fees” on credit cards. That happened last month when my dentist — my dentist! — announced he was tacking on a 3.5 percent surcharge if a credit card was used.

Why is my dentist doing this? Why am I being warned at the diner in New Jersey that I’m penalized if I choose not to pay cash? Why do I, like so many other consumers, grumble when I see a “credit card processing” surcharge automatically added to my purchase at a Philadelphia coffee shop? Enough is enough, right?

And yet, my irritation is not with the banks who are charging these fees. It’s with my dentist, and other small business owners, who are now charging me extra.

It’s easy for small businesses to complain about swipe fees because they have such a receptive audience. It’s David versus Goliath, big vs. small, good versus evil. And because it is such an obvious way to get the populist vote, a number of politicians are jumping on the anti-swipe-fee bandwagon, passing legislation across the country to curtail the practice, including in Illinois, Colorado, Maine, Delaware, Arizona and Pennsylvania.

Supporters of these measures argue that swipe fees impact small businesses disproportionately. They say that bigger companies are in a position to negotiate better deals, and that the fees are becoming a significant cost for Main Street retailers, restaurateurs and (apparently) dentists. They want their politicians to help end the practice.

Fair enough. But I am not going to argue the economic model that justifies why a financial institution would charge swipe fees. These are businesses, and like the small businesses that complain, they also have their costs to recover. They have a right to make their profits and, like any business, they have a right to determine how much they charge for their products and services.

Requiring the government to clamp down and implement what is in essence another form of price control is not a great precedent. What’s to stop the government from doing this to other independent businesses, regardless of size?

Yes, margins are tight. But most smart business owners I know already absorb fluctuating material costs, insurance costs, labor costs and rent. Swipe fees should be managed the same way.

The only people who profit by making this a political issue are politicians and lobbyists. Even if swipe fees are frozen by legislation, banks will just do something else. Government intervention may lower one fee, but markets tend to find other ways to recover costs. They have many tricks up their sleeves.

The fight over swipe fees is distracting small businesses from the real issue: pricing correctly. I don’t how to fill a cavity. But, as a CPA, I can see an easy way for my dentist — and any small-business owner — to avoid upsetting customers like myself by adding a surcharge to their bill.

Business owners should simply treat swipe fees like all other business expenses and adjust their prices accordingly. It’s not rocket science. Open up your spreadsheet. Download the data from your accounting system. Figure out what your annual credit card fees are costing. Spread those fees across all of your products. Then recalculate your pricing based on the full picture.

When approached this way, the change in pricing would be so immaterial that most customers would not even notice.

I will pay $13.50 for a burger instead of $13.25 without blinking. Why don’t restaurants just do this? If the charge for my teeth cleaning is $258.75 instead of $250, I am less likely to notice a small markup if I am not told that I’m being charged an additional 3.5 percent for the use of my credit card. Why doesn’t my dentist do this?

You’d have to ask him. But you’d better do it soon, because the added fees are prompting me to stop patronizing businesses that follow this practice. My dentist didn’t make me angry because he raised prices. He made me angry because he singled out one cost and asked me to pay it separately.

If your forte isn’t numbers, then have your accountant do the math for you. This way, your customers can talk about the great burger they ate at your place or the fantastic services you provide — not the fact that you’re gouging them by charging extra for their choice of payment.

Customers don’t resent higher prices nearly as much as they resent being nickel-and-dimed.

Gene Marks is founder of The Marks Group, a small-business consulting firm.

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