Finance Minister Colm Imbert yesterday made a public appeal to taxi and maxi taxi drivers not to increase their fares to commuters following the 15 per cent hike in the prices of super gasoline and diesel fuel last Friday.
He said to raise the prices would be “unpatriotic.”
Imbert made the plea during an interview on 195.5 FM after being questioned as to whether the Government had taken into account how the phasing out of the fuel subsidy would have affected the poor man.
Stating that there was a $15 billion gap between expenditure and revenue, Imbert said the move was necessary.
“You are missing $15 billion. You have revenue of $44 billion and expenditure at $59 billion, which is a cut-back figure from $63 billion. You have choices.”
In retrospect, Imbert said, the most practical thing the Government could have done was to slash the fuel subsidy, which benefits the upper income rather than the lower income earners.
“The reason is that they have more expensive cars which consume more fuel. So they spend more on fuel. So they benefit more.”
Imbert said while lower income earners benefit by between $500 and $700 a month from the subsidy, “the upper income family is between $2,000 to $2,500. This is disproportionate.”
The money saved from the subsidy, Imbert said, will go towards putting more buses on the road “to give people a viable alternative that is cheaper. So you have to get the cost of public transportation down using the money that you save.”
Told that maxi taxi and taxis operators and owners may increase their fares, Imbert said, “I think this is unpatriotic.”
Consumers now pay $3.58 per litre for super, while diesel now costs $2 per litre.
Following last year’s Budget, Imbert said the price of doubles had increased from $4 to $5.
“They say this was because the price of diesel went up.”
Imbert said when one worked out the component of diesel to the production of doubles, “it’s two or three per cent. But they added 100 per cent or whatever. I really want to appeal to maxi taxi owners and drivers, please go easy. Be fair. It is not fair if the price of fuel goes up by 15 per cent to raise a fare by 25 per cent or 50 per cent. This is what I am hearing.”
Soon, Imbert said, the Government will reduce the taxes on maxi taxis and taxis.