Hundreds of thousands of people live “in the black” in Prague, the city loses billions because of them
photo: Jakub Mračno, PrahaIN.cz/Prague is the mother of cities, but it does not have an abundance of its sons
Officially, nearly one million and three hundred thousand inhabitants live in Prague, and the budget allocation, i.e. the income of the capital city from the state budget, is also based on this number. However, unofficial numbers say about a quarter of a million people who live in Prague, but are not permanently registered here. At the same time, their registration could “add” another billion crowns to the city coffers.
According to Economic Deputy Mayor Pavel Vyhnánek (Prague itself), who recently commissioned a survey of the actual number of Prague residents, about “200 to 300 thousand” people live in the capital without a permanent residence. “In this way, the capital city loses seven and a half billion press crowns from taxes every year,” he said at the conference.
300,000 more people
The Institute of the Institute (IPR), which was presented in this main matter in a survey mainly by the planning and development agency PPM Factum, previously stated that 1.6 million people live in Prague permanently, and another 200,000 people go to the city every day for work Central Bohemia region. These numbers are based on anonymous data from mobile operators, but according to Vyhnánek, they also include people who live in the city, but only for one year for work. From the current online survey, which addressed 2,200 respondents, it follows that in the case of permanently living but unregistered residents of Prague, these are usually young, unmarried, childless and university-educated people. Mostly those who finished their studies in Prague and stayed here for work.
What to do with it?
According to Vyhnánek, the city should prepare motivational campaigns in the future that would encourage people living in the metropolis “on the black” to register for permanent residence. “The survey confirmed a certain assumption we had, but it was not based on any verifiable facts. We currently know more, but it is only the beginning of the current solution,” the deputy told PrahaIN.cz. He added that the current city management will no longer deal with these topics before the elections. “We wouldn’t be able to make it to the elections. But the next city management will have all the materials ready for the eventual creation of well-targeted campaigns and programs,” added the mayor’s deputy for budget and finance.
He personally sees the way to solving this problem in the motivation of residents of Prague who have not yet registered. “The research shows that 54 percent of the respondents open without a permanent residence in the next five years are also considering reporting their residence, which is an opportunity for the city to target them with a campaign or incentive programs. If we could get this group, we are able to reach about 4.5 billion a year,” he added, adding that the research showed that the reason for the majority of non-registrants is fear of excessive complications and paperwork. “If it was possible to minimize the entire process of changing permanent residence, for example in the form of some kind of notification obligation, it would certainly help cities like Prague,” he added when asked by PrahaIN.cz.
Positive or negative motivation
According to him, the motivation could take the form of financial benefits for services, public transport, parking or perhaps entry to various Prague attractions. A one-time financial reward for registering a permanent residence could also help. Although Vyhnánek, according to his own words, is a supporter of a positive approach, he also mentioned the possibility of negative motivation, which consisted, for example, in limiting access to public services.
They discovered long ago, says the opposition
According to the leader of the opposition ANO, the city management discovered a topic shortly before the election on which the movement had been supporting for a long time. “The topic of reducing the cost of living in Prague, which I also have on billboards, is something we have been dealing with for a long time within the ANO movement. While the coalition raises the costs of Prague residents in all possible areas of life, we are trying to find a solution that is the opposite, which is also related to the mentioned problem of unregistered residents of the city and the budgetary determination of taxes,” said PrahaIN.cz candidate of the ANO movement for mayor Patrik Nacher.
According to him, there are two basic solutions. “First of all, we can use the change in the budget determination of taxes at least to the state before the change in the law, which was enforced by STAN in 2005, thanks to which Prague loses approximately six million crowns annually. It would not be an improvement, but at least we would return to a fairer redistribution of taxes,” he specified.
He sees the second option as a positive motivation, for example in the introduction of one parking zone or in the introduction of gradients in secondary schools. “The whole topic is mainly related to the fact that the capital city offers its services in addition to the people for which it receives money from the state budget, as well as a number of others, whether it is urban transport, social services or even schools,” added Nacher.