Russian budget losses due to illegal cab drivers have become known

In Russia, the number of drivers who go into the "gray zone" is increasing due to difficulties in complying with the requirements of the law "On Taxis" and strict regulatory measures. According to calculations, in 2024-2026, the Russian budget is at risk of receiving more than 88 billion rubles in unpaid taxes from such drivers. Arseny Scheltsin, Director of the Autonomous Nonprofit Organization "Digital Platforms", told about it, as Izvestia correspondent reports on November 21 from the round table on the problems of the cab industry and ways to solve them.

According to Scheltsin, various chatbots and groups in messengers that offer to use the service "Taxi without intermediaries" are gaining popularity in the regions. There are now thousands of such unofficial cab ordering services operating in the Russian Federation, through which up to 1 million trips are made each month, he said.

"The client writes a message from where to pick him up and where to bring him, and in response he receives a message about the car that will arrive and the cost of the trip. What kind of driver will be behind the wheel, whether he even has a license - remains a mystery," said Scheltsin.

For example, in the Krasnoyarsk region experts of ANO "Digital Platforms" counted 151 such chat with an audience of almost 420 thousand people, in Bashkiria work more than 300 "services" with more than 210 thousand subscribers, in Tyva the audience of 137 "cab operators" has almost 123 thousand people.

Earlier in the day it was reported that the deputies of the State Duma prepared amendments to the law "On the organization of transportation of passengers and luggage by passenger cab", which involve changing the rules of passing daily medical examinations and checking the technical condition of the car self-employed cab drivers.

On October 29, it became known that the number of dangerous incidents in cabs will increase, as a significant part of drivers are forced to work in the "gray" zone. This was reported to "Izvestia" in the Union of platforms "Digital World". About 70% of drivers cannot fulfill the requirements of the new law on cabs, which came into effect in September 2023, they calculated there. This forces them to leave the aggregators to work in the "gray" zone and take orders in messengers and social networks.