By Chrysostomos Tsoufis

In a normal world, the vast majority of taxis on the roads of the Greek territory should already have a special sticker posted informing customers that at the end of the journey the driver is required to issue a receipt and that payment by card is possible …. As much as you saw these stickers, so did I…

Instead of the normal world, we live in another in which the federation taxi overtly plays “delays”. The Panhellenic Taxi Federation refuses to receive the special stickers raising ….security issues. He argues that the 25x12cm sticker which must be affixed to the top of the rear right window in relation to the driver’s seat is too large and makes driving difficult. It therefore requires smaller dimensions, e.g. of a credit card for the process to proceed normally.

Result; Since July 31, when the relevant decision of the Ministry of Finance was issued, the special stickers printed by AADE have remained in its offices. And for taxis to circulate undisturbed on the streets since they cannot be checked. The fine in case someone is found not to have complied is €1000.

All this, of course, of the evil one… The Ministry of Finance remains steadfast in its original decision and in the next few days – if not today – will proceed to issue a new decision to receive the stickers. The original decision stipulated that the distribution of the sticker to taxi drivers would be done through the Panhellenic Taxi Federation (POEIATA) and its member unions, and that drivers should have placed the sticker on the taxi within three weeks of receiving it.

However, the Ministry of Finance assures that there will be no further tolerance. After the expiry of the new deadline that will be set, the checks will start normally and the fines will be confirmed.

All this is happening with data still fresh from the processing of the 2023 income tax returns according to which 6/10 taxi owners declared losses. And of those who declared profits, the average was €6,535, i.e. far below the €10,920 which is the income of someone who is paid the basic salary. In other words, they stated that they live on €544/month.