Cabbies take to the streets
By Karol Chlipalski
According to police estimates, some 1,500-2,000 taxi drivers demonstrated last Tuesday against new regulations which compel them to install computerized cash registers in their cars.
Representatives of the protesters submitted a petition to Deputy Finance Minister Robert Kwaśniak, demanding the government not implement the new rules. Ministry delegates have not officially responded to the petition.
Cabbies argue that buying an on-board cash register, or kasa fiskalna, as they are known, would represent an additional cost of zł. 1,700 (€389) for each taxi driver. Together with a new taxi meter, the total costs could run as high as zł. 2,800 (€641). Of that, zł. 1,100 (€252) would be refunded to each driver, costing the State Treasury an additional zł. 150 million (€34.3 million), as there are 140,000 taxis in Poland.
"We are not against paying taxes based on revenue, but we are against additional expenses," says Jerzy Kłeczek, a Warsaw taxi driver. He says that taxi meters already installed in cabs contain all the data necessary to comply with the new rules.
Paweł Biedrzycki, head of the Association of Private Transporters of the city of Warsaw, agrees with Kłeczek, adding that the installation of a cash register and new taxi meter would be a breach of EU regulations, which state that no devices can be connected to a taxi meter that could potentially affect its operation. "Meanwhile, unplugging the cash register, as was foreseen by the Finance Ministry, should stop the taxi meter from functioning," says Biedrzycki.
Jerzy Kłeczek has been working as a taxi driver for the last 25 years. He says his life has never been as hard as it is now.
"I was able to build a house, live decently, finance my children's education and go on vacation every year. Now I can't (even) afford the heating bill in my house," he says, adding that the reason for his situation is the economic crisis and the fact that in Warsaw there are too many taxis.
"I was waiting (for a fare) for an hour and a half before you called," says Kłeczek. He explains that to ensure decent revenue, he has to log 200 kilometers a day. Recently he hardly reaches 150. He declined to reveal what he meant by "a decent revenue." "If the number of Warsaw taxis was limited to 7,000, the prices would go down because every taxi driver would be busier and his turnover would go up," he says.
According to the Bureau of Economic Activity and Licenses at Warsaw City Hall, there are 9,900 licensed taxi drivers in the city. The person the Business Journal contacted in the bureau, who asked not to be named, agreed that there are too many taxis in Warsaw. He added that there are just as many new drivers entering the profession as there are leaving it.
"This year we have issued 60 licenses," he said.
