Victoria slashes Cabcharge fee in half Charge back ... Cabcharge has been told to slash credit fees in Victoria. Victorian taxi users who pay with a credit card will soon get a cheaper ride after the state government told monopoly payment company Cabcharge to slash card-payment fees. The Napthine government cut the card surcharge on Cabcharge's electronic payment system from 10 per cent to 5 per cent on the recommendation of an 18-month inquiry into Victoria's taxis by former ACCC head Allan Fels. The recommendation prompted Cabcharge's founder and CEO Reg Kermode to say: "Bugger it, if that's what you want, you can all go back to cash." Shares in Cabcharge plunged 15.3 per cent, or 75 cents, to close at $4.15. Today's decline pushes the company's share price into negative territory for the year, to -5.25 per cent, valuing the Sydney-based business at $500 million. Cabcharge says its electronic payment system is found in about 97 per cent of the Australia's taxis, as well as limousines and water taxis. There are about 5000 cabs in Victoria. The Napthine government announced on it had accepted almost all of Fels' recommendations, including cutting the eftpos charge to 5 per cent of the fare. Professor Fels said in 2012 that "Cabcharge's tentacles reach everywhere in the industry and any substantial reform in Victoria and elsewhere would have an effect on Cabcharge." The changes are expected to take three years to implement. Cabcharge was contacted for comment. With Adam Carey