Scores of Kampot taxi drivers staged a protest last week to demand that taxes on their vehicles be lowered, Kampot Governor Ly Sou said Thursday.
About 40 of Kampot’s 60 taxi drivers parked their vehicles in front of the provincial governor’s office and complained that they weren’t making profits because the taxes were too high, the governor said.
The protest was peaceful and there were no arrests. It was the second protest in a week taxi drivers staged over taxes, their income and the right to park and pick up passengers at the Kampot bus station, Ly Sou said.
Taxi drivers pay between 40,000 riel ($10) and 60,000 riel ($15) annually, he said. The taxes have been collected in previous years but this year provincial tax collectors are being more strict, Ly Sou explained.
Tax officials and Second Deputy Governor Meng Suon are currently negotiating with the drivers on an acceptable amount for the drivers to pay.
In Siem Reap in September, demonstrators successfully persuaded officials to reconsider taxes on new motorbikes.
