– It is a cowboy industry, and it has become an industry with a high risk of tax evasion and black sales. Unfortunately. That’s what Jan Egil Kristiansen, who was head of tax crime at the Swedish Tax Agency for a number of years, says. Then he was involved in cleaning up black payments in the taxi industry, but now he is sounding the alarm again. Jan-Egil Kristiansen has worked for 35 years in the Tax Administration, and sees signs that the taxi industry is about to derail. Photo: Sarah Pierstorff / news Think the payment is going black Three years ago, the taxi market was unleashed, so that more people could drive taxis and challenge the traditional companies. There are now three times as many taxi licenses in Oslo and over 18,000 in the country. The concern comes because some newcomers do not use a traditional taxi meter to pay, but register the trip in a mobile app. Kristiansen refers to a review from Sweden which shows that 60 per cent of taxi journeys can be evaded taxation because the payment goes outside the taxi meter. – Perhaps as much as half of the turnover is evaded, says Kristiansen. Wants a taxi meter order He is supported by chairman Rune Lian of Oslo Taxi. The company has also acquired a mobile app for booking trips and paying, but still allows the taxi meter to register the trip. Lian believes the Støre government should ensure that it becomes the rule for everyone. – The biggest weakness is that it has not been said that all sales must go via the taxi meter. No matter how the order is made. It should not be up to the driver to register it in the taxi meter or not, he says. Chairman Rune Lian of Oslo Taxi is worried that the authorities do not control the taxi industry more closely. Photo: Torbjørn Brovold / news Newcomers: – Not serious Newcomers in the industry include Bolt, Uber and Yango. Customers book the taxi journey on a digital platform and pay in advance. NHO’s technology association Abelia responds on behalf of the mobile app-based companies, and believes that the proposal from Oslo Taxi is expensive and that the taxi meter does not work well with the digital platform. – You suspect a driver and a taxi owner, without having any particular basis for it other than the fact that they are connected to a platform like Bolt. I don’t think that’s serious, says business policy director Nils Ola Widme. Business policy director Nils Ola Widme in Abelia. Photo: Ilja C. Hendel / Ilja C. Hendel He believes that the newcomers are suspected because they manage to operate more cheaply and are more competitive than the veterans in the industry. The newcomers have opted for cheaper trips than with several of the competitors. – Why is it like that? Is it because you drive black? – No, there is no reason to believe that. It’s cheap because they have a digital and simple business model that makes it easy for the customer to meet the car, and easy for the car to meet the customer. The taxis here drive around with customers almost all the time, while others have to pay to stand still in the taxi queue, says Widme.
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– It’s a cowboy industry – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
