The tax for reserving places for graves in the cemeteries of the municipality of Chisinau, the yearly tax for maintaining the graves and the tax for drivers that want to enter the cemetery will be higher. The decision was made by the Chisinau Municipal Council (CMC) at its last meeting. A gave place in the Central Cemetery on Armeneasca Street will be the most expensive, Iurie Luca, deputy director of the Funeral Services Company, has told Info-Prim Neo. The tax for a place in this cemetery was raised from 1,280 to 3,500 lei. The funeral will cost 1,500 lei, as against 1,280 earlier. A place in Saint Lazar Cemetery will cost 2,500 lei, compared with 960 lei before, while the funeral – 1,000 lei, up from 960 lei. The taxes for funeral and grave places in other Chisinau cemeteries were increased by 40 lei, from 660 lei to 700 lei. The tax for maintaining a grave was raised the most – from 10 lei to 120 lei a year, in all cemeteries. Iurie Luca said that practically no one pays this tax. “The people pay only once for the maintenance of the grave, after the funeral, not every year as they should. We cannot trouble them later as it is a great sorrow to lose a dear person. So, we sustain losses,” Iurie Luca said. The drivers that want to enter the cemetery will pay a tax according to the tonnage of the vehicle – between 5 and 15 lei, not 3 lei as before. The old taxes were approved by the CMC in 1995. Since then, the costs have increased about six times following the higher prices of fuel and power and the higher water and sewerage charges.