The Galati City Council, it seems, knows how to calculate taxes with a minus, not only with a plus. The local elected representatives of Galați will have on the table, at the meeting on Thursday, April 25, a draft decision to reduce the taxi license fee. The proposed reduction is a substantial one, from 813 to 450 lei/year and is made following a proposal of the National Chamber of Taximetrists from Romania – Galați branch.
In other words, the Galati City Council finally admits that it charges the Galati taxi drivers the highest rates in the country. If he had read The Free Life, he would have found this out years earlier.
From a comparative analysis accompanying the cited draft decision, which was carried out on 13 comparable cities, it appears that Galațiul has the highest annual expenditure on taxi fees, of 1,008 lei. This is composed of the visa for the taxi authorization, of 813 lei, and the visa for the authorization of taxi transport, of 195 lei annually. The total, of 1,008 lei per year, is a true national record, if we refer to cities such as Craiova (24 lei/year), Pitesti (30 lei/year), Brașov (80 lei/year), Constanța (120 lei /year) or Iasi (200 lei/year).
There are also cities where taxi drivers have an annual tax expense closer to that of Galati, but without equaling it. This is the case of Brăila (745 lei) and Bacău (732 lei, where the situation is more special, because there the parking rate is 576 lei per year).
Cities such as Oradea (450 lei), Focșani (457 lei for commercial companies, 391 for authorized natural persons), Arad (400 lei), Sibiu (360 lei) or Ploiești (260 lei) are located in the middle area of the rates.
“We are proposing to reduce the taxi license fee because alternative transportation has taken off in our city and as a result, the demand for taxi transportation has decreased. Another reason is inflation and the continuous increase in prices to fuel and car maintenance, but also the decrease in the purchasing power of the inhabitants of our city. And, last but not least, keep in mind that we have the highest tax in the country for taxi permits”, the address sent by the branch states Galati of the National Chamber of Taximetrists from Romania regarding the “taxi authorization fee in Galati, which slightly exceeded the amount of 1,000 lei”.
“The Department of Community Services of Public Utilities carried out a comparative analysis of the visa fee level of the authorizations in several municipalities and redid the foundation of the fee, resulting in its reduction from 813 lei/year to 450 lei/year”, according to the specialized report of the draft decision. This level of 450 lei/year is also considered “optimal” by the Financial Accounting Department of Galati City Hall, according to the justification attached to the file.
In conclusion, if the draft decision passes the City Council, the annual tax expense of a Galați taxi driver will decrease from 1,008 to 645 lei. The new amount will be composed of the visa for the taxi authorization (450 lei) and the one for the transport authorization (which remains 195 lei per year).
