Citizens and tourists who travel to Rome know that The waiting time for a taxi at Termini station cannot be quantified, if you have to move within the city, calculate in advance the possibility of moving on foot or by other means, because often the answer is: “We don’t have taxis available”. Also in Milan taking a taxi in an acceptable time is not at all a given. The reason why millions of people wait in vain in big cities is well known: there are too few taxis. There are all laws to increase the number of licenses, but as soon as the Municipalities try to address the issue for taxi drivers it is in fact always a “no”, and they block the city with strikes (here the Dataroom of March 2024). The alternative is the Nccthat is, rental services with driver, what we commonly call through the Uber platform. The «Muoversi» confederation, which brings together the main sector associations (AniTrav, Air Committee, Sistema Trasporti, Asincc) estimates between 25 and 30 thousand. According to the official numbers, however, there would be only 5,179, but simply because the Municipalities that have to issue the authorizations have not communicated the data to the Transport Regulatory Authority. The discipline of their business has been at stake for 16 years: since 2008 the centre-right, in particular the League, intervenes to put limits on the activity of the NCC in order to limit competition to taxisand with standards anachronistic given the development of digital platforms; but even the centre-left never resolved the issue when it was in government. In the meantime the new NCC authorizations are stopped (in Rome since 1993): to unlock them the «Computer register of holders of taxi licenses and authorizations for rentals with drivers» that monitors who does what. The Register was foreseen in 2018 (here art. 10 bis), and established in 2020 (here), but is not yet active at the moment. In the ineptitude of politics, illegal practices proliferate. And today the situation is what we are going to describe.
NCCs, on the other hand, are not a public service, and therefore do not have to respect all these rules. While taxis can also be found in dedicated car parks, the characteristic of NCCs is that they must be booked by calling them on their mobile phone (the numbers can be found online), up dedicated sites or via apps. The only digital platform present today in Italy to book them is Uberwhich started with Milan and Rome in 2013 and today is present in a total of 13 cities (Turin, Milan, Verona, Venice, Treviso, Udine, Trieste, Bologna, Florence, Rome, Palermo, Catania plus Monfalcone airport), mainly in those where there are more authorizations for cars with drivers. The price of the ride is decided by an algorithm based on the day, time, car availability, and is anticipated at the time of booking.
Uber’s Dutch “tax shield”.
Uber was invented by the Americans Travis Kalanick and today 80% is owned by US social security and insurance funds such as Vanguard Group (8%), BlackRock (7%), Eaton Vance Management (5.9%), Fidelity (5.9%) e JpMorgan Investment (4%). The parent company is based in Delaware (USA) and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. In 2023 it had a turnover of 37.2 billion closing in profit for the first time: 1.88 billion dollars. Italian society is Uber Italy which has revenues of a few million and only for marketing services in favor of a Dutch parent company, the Uber International. Be careful, here is the crux that explains the financial model, i.e. how to bypass the local tax authorities: for real business (rental and transport) proceeds from all over the world fly directly to Hollandwhere there is a network of local financial companies (including the one that controls Uber Italy) which is headed by a key albeit unknown company, the «Uber NL Holdings 1 bv» (Uber NL). It has zero employees, but 16.8 billion in 2023 turnover: in fact the operating revenues arrive here from over 230 companies on the planet, except the USA and China. We calculated the turnover by taking it from the balance sheet of the American parent company Uber Technologies which, despite the strategic role of the Dutch subsidiary, does not dedicate space to it, but simply divides the revenues by geographical area. There is another obvious anomaly: Uber NL’s latest filed financial statements are for 2021, approved only in August 2023 and certified by PWC’s audit in the same month, i.e. one year and eight months after its closure. It is not clear how the American parent company was able to close the 2021 and 2022 consolidated financial statements, with the tight deadlines dictated by the listing on the stock exchange, when the financial statements of such an important subsidiary had not yet been approved and certified by the auditors. Who’s in charge of shell companies based in Amsterdam? Uber’s Singapore branch in a game of financial loans and Chinese boxes that with Dutch assistance allows Uber to avoid paying taxes where it offers its services.
In Italy Uber retains 25% of the cost of a rideWhile 75% (standard commission) goes to the driver subject to the Italian VAT tax regime. It’s pretty hard to escape because payments are tracked: the customer is required to pay the balance of the trip by credit card or other electronic means such as PayPal at the time of booking.
The return to the garage and the service sheet
There framework law which regulates the matter as for taxis is n.21 of 1992 (here), and for Ncc establishes that the user makes his request to the operational headquarters of the rental company (remittance) (here art. 3). In 2008 (Berlusconi IV government) the rules provide that the start and end of each individual rental service with driver must take place at the garagelocated in the Municipality that issued the authorization, and that a service sheet must be filled out with the terms of the race: a) vehicle license plate; b) driver’s name; c) date, place and kilometers of departure and arrival; d) service start time, destination and service end time; And) customer data (always a sore point for privacy reasons). However, ten subsequent legislative provisions extend the entry into force of the rule from year to year to 31 December 2017 (here art. 9 paragraph 3). Instead, he implements it the M5S-League government with the decree-law of 14 December 2018, (here, art. 10 bis): the user you can also book the NCC via a digital platform, but the driver must always leave from the garage and return there to pick up the next reservation. The obligation for the driver to complete the service sheet in electronic format has been reiterated.
Unreasonable rules
The de facto rules remained unapplied and the Constitutional Court deems the obligation to return to headquarters disproportionate and unreasonable at the end of each race (here 5.6.3 and here), also rejected byTransport Regulatory Authority (here page 5). Now the ministers Matteo Salvini (Transport) and Adolfo Urso (Business and Made in Italy) they try again: «In case of requests for NCC services referring to the first available departure time, the carrier indicates a user pick-up time compatible with the transfer times from the garage or, in case of departure from a place other than the garage, not less than 30 minutes”. The rules, contained in 3 different decrees and which must pass the examination of Privacy and Antitrust Guarantor, they are actually born already old. The European Commission writes «The obligation to return to a remote location without a passenger, and then do the route in reverse to pick up the next passenger, the number of empty runs increases (known with the English term «deadhead»). In times characterized by congested cities, the need to mitigate environmental impact and the availability of mobile communication and geolocation systems, it may be appropriate to review this rule. As long as drivers are busy, they should not be prevented from carrying out their service by requiring them to return to the premises between customers. Cities could, for example, designate spaces in more central areas where drivers can wait during breaks between trips, with the aim of reducing as much as possible empty runs which represent an inefficient use of working time and are harmful to the environment, as they contribute to increasing congestion and emissions” (here). They are indications of simple common sense that politics has the duty to apply. In a changing world and where there is work for everyone, precisely because demand is growing, persevering in the protection of category interests is diabolical.
