Las Vegas taxis have been overcharging the people for millions of dollars, the state auditors announced, after an audit of Nevada Taxicab Authority revealed an outrageous $47 million. Not only the tourists had fallen into the trap, the citizens have been victims of this extortion as well.

So why didn't this fact come to light before? Yahoo News discovered that after e-hailing services like Uber and Lyft hit the streets, the stark difference in their fares and that of the city cabs became even more pronounced.  The city cab drivers had set up a big protest over the e-hailing cabs cutting into their business, but eventually lost their fight in last year's Legislature.

Following the audit findings, the auditors of the governor's finance division zeroed in on the $3 credit card processing fee the customers have to dole out every time. They also frowned upon the authority for increasing the fuel surcharge in the face of falling gas prices, saying that while it's a big profit for the cab companies, the economy gets adversely affected consequently.

The abnormally high cab fares have particularly angered the tourists.  Dominick Lovely who was visiting from Denver said a $9 fare for a 5-minute cab ride was ridiculous.  "Three dollars doesn't sound like a lot, but aggregated over an entire population of people in Las Vegas taking cabs, it's not a fair deal," he said, indicating the processing fee.

Another irate customer, a Raliegh resident, Cynthia Kulak ended up paying $21 for a ride to the Bellagio from the airport. "Once you're in there and you're driving, what else are you going to do but pay it?" was her angry remark, saying she would be switching to Uber services the next time.

Long-hauling or taking a longer route to run a higher bill is yet another problem, which is not uncommon in popular tourist destinations. But when done in the sin city, the meter throws up a frightful amount including the dreaded processing fee. The taxi industry has designed the fee structure cleverly which extracts 12 cents more per mile once gas prices hit $3.25 a gallon, instead of a gradual increase depending on gas price fluctuations.

All these findings have led the auditors to make some serious recommendations. According to CBS News, for one, they feel the Nevada Taxicab Authority should not be allowed to regulate Clark County cabs anymore, and the contract should be given to a more reliable agency. Secondly, the $3 credit card processing fee should be brought down to 90 cents or less, if not stopped altogether. This recommendation was backed by the facts that taxicab agencies in other cities allow a 3.8-5% fee of the total fare. In this case, $3 makes up almost 17% of the total fare, which is preposterous.

When faced with these charges, the taxi representatives were quick to pass the blame on to the company, saying that the drivers are totally against the fee.  NewsOK reveals their sentiments in the words of Sam Moffitt, representative of Yellow-Checker-Star drivers. "It is absolutely, utterly ridiculous to have a credit card fee of $3. That's absurd. The drivers do not get any portion of that money."

However, the Nevada Taxicab Authority chief, Ron Grogan announced that the taxi board will soon hold a discussion regarding implementing the recommended changes while acknowledging that the authority will probably accept all charges and bow out gracefully.