Who helps people: taxi drivers were offered benefits for passengers with disabilities
Taxi drivers who carry out orders for the transportation of people with disabilities, as well as taxi companies that purchase specialized vehicles for such transportation, should have tax incentives. Taxi aggregators have applied to the State Council with such a proposal. Experts ambiguously assess the initiative. Details can be found in the Izvestia article.
Benefits for the disabled
Maxim taxi ordering service sent a letter (a copy is available to Izvestia) to Alexey Tsydenov, Chairman of the Commission of the State Council of the Russian Federation on the Efficient Transport System, head of the Republic of Buryatia, with a proposal to introduce a system of incentives for the transportation of disabled people. In mid-July, Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed the government and the State Council to develop such a system by December 1 of this year.
According to the letter, taxi drivers and taxi companies transporting passengers with disabilities are invited to provide tax preferences, namely, to introduce "a bonus in the form of a discount from the NAP (professional income tax) for transporting disabled people for self-employed drivers of passenger taxis." As for taxi companies, it is planned to establish a "tax relief for the payment of VAT for the purchase of specialized vehicles in their fleets for the transportation of the disabled."
The authors of the initiative note that tax preferences provided for performing socially significant actions are the most effective incentive system.
"Even such minimal tax benefits will not only saturate the market with the supply of specialized vehicles and related transportation for the disabled, but will also serve as a driver for whitewashing the market as a whole, increasing the tax base and ultimately the amount of taxes collected," the document says.
"This is just the first step"
Practice shows that tax incentives and preferences, including those related to the fulfillment of certain social tasks by businesses, give a tangible impetus to the relevant area of the economy, says Stanislav Shvagerus, head of the competence center of the International Eurasian Taxi Forum. At the same time, the current proposals are only the first step, a kind of concept of a possible form of support and encouragement, he emphasizes.
— To implement these proposals, significant legislative work is needed, including changes to both tax and taxi legislation, the definition of clear parameters and conditions under which the proposed benefits will apply. It is also necessary to harmonize the database of the Federal Tax Service and FGIS Taxi," Stanislav Shvagerus told Izvestia.
Preferences and support measures should not be limited to self-employed drivers, said Irina Zaripova, chairman of the Public Council for Taxi Development. They should be extended to all bona fide market participants — taxi fleets and carriers of any organizational and legal form that actually provide services or invest in the purchase of specialized vehicles, she believes. In her opinion, this approach will ensure the real accessibility of a social taxi, reduce the risks of failures for economic reasons and allow for the formation of a sustainable transportation infrastructure for people with limited mobility.
— Transportation of people with limited mobility, or social taxi, is an independent service of increased complexity. It can be provided not by any driver, but by a specially trained carrier who is ready to provide the necessary assistance during the trip. It requires the use of specialized rolling stock, including minibuses equipped with lifts, ramps and fastening systems. The cost of such transport and its equipment is higher than that of conventional passenger taxis, and the selection and training of personnel, as well as the subsequent maintenance of equipment, require additional time and money, — says Irina Zaripova.
The issue of social taxi development should be considered in a special order, she believes. If the entire burden of costs is placed on ordinary carriers, a significant part of the market simply cannot withstand the financial pressure and the service will be either expensive for passengers or impossible for business, believes the chairman of the public council for taxi development.
The Yandex Taxi company could not promptly respond to Izvestia's request.
The benefits won't cover the costs
The cost of specialized transportation for the disabled is several times higher than a regular taxi, Maxim Kadakov, editor-in-chief of Za Rulem magazine, agrees with Irina Zaripova. In addition, unlike regular taxi cars, such cars will have a very large idle run, he notes.
— If the driver of an ordinary taxi car, after dropping off one passenger, can take a new order literally on the next street, then in the case of transporting a disabled person, it may turn out that you will have to go to the other end of the city. This run does not generate income, which means it is an additional expense. In addition, it is likely that there will be only a couple of orders per shift, or there may not be any at all on some day. This means that the car will be idle, which is also an expense for the carrier," said Maxim Kadakov.
According to the editor-in-chief of Za Rulem, the very idea of tax preferences is "quite interesting, but the benefits are unlikely to cover the costs of such transportation."
Not all people with disabilities need specialized transportation to travel by taxi, says Anton Shaparin, Vice President of the National Automobile Union. In the vast majority of cases, a passenger with a disability needs assistance when boarding or disembarking from the car, and additional space in the trunk to accommodate a folding wheelchair or crutches, he emphasizes.
— Transporting a person confined to a wheelchair is one thing — it requires a separate specialized transport and often an additional escort. Therefore, such transportation is the prerogative of social taxi services, which are funded from regional or municipal budgets. The expenses of ordinary carrier companies for such transportation will not be covered by tax benefits. And another thing is a taxi ride for a person who just needs extra help to get in and out of the car, accompanied to the entrance. If a taxi driver is willing to take on these and other additional obligations and risks, then he should receive compensation for this — in the form of a tax break or even through partial subsidization of the cost of the trip from the budget, so that the fare for the passenger himself is minimal, Anton Shaparin told Izvestia.
It's easier to pay extra
The introduction of tax preferences or some other benefits for drivers and companies transporting people with disabilities may cause a wave of bureaucracy, which will eventually bury the very idea of such bonuses, said Igor Morzharetto, a member of the presidium of the Public Council under the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation. As an example, he cited the situation with trips in the Moscow metro, when in the mid-90s of the last century, the number of categories of citizens who enjoyed the right of disembodied travel in this type of transport reached 64.
— A lot of questions will immediately arise: which disability groups will be affected by such preferences; what will be the distance of the trip; how many such trips should a driver or taxi company make in order to qualify for tax benefits; how to confirm them. In this case, the more correct solution would probably be to introduce additional payments for people with disabilities, which they can spend on taxi rides if necessary, the expert believes.
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