Card surcharges have ballooned out to 11 per cent of the total fare in Canberra in some cases, the government says.

The 5 per cent cap is designed to protect consumers and make taxi services "more competitive and affordable for all Canberrans".

The territory is following the lead of several other states, including NSW, South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia, who have all slashed surcharges in the past 12 months.

All of those states implemented the same 5 per cent cap planned for the ACT, and Queensland is expected to soon follow suit.

The changes come after the Reserve Bank of Australia cracked down on excessive surcharges in other industries in May, including for Uber, airlines and hire cars, but declined to do so for the taxi industry.

The RBA said that responsibility fell to state and territory governments, many of whom were already moving to introduce a cap at the time.

A statement from Chief Minister Andrew Barr's office said the cap would take effect in November.

"We don't want to see Canberrans being ripped off every time they want to use convenient cashless methods to pay for services such as taxis," the statement said.

The surcharge cap presents another change in a tumultuous time for the industry, which has been dealing with the threat of Uber since the ride-sharing service's arrival last year.

Mr Barr said the government supported the industry as part of a diverse transport system, and said taxi license lease fees were halved last year, and a further 50 per cent reduction was planned for later this year.

The changes to card surcharges, combined with the arrival of Uber, has taken a serious toll on the profits of taxi payment company Cabcharge.

On Friday, the company announced a 45 per cent fall in full year profit, citing the new surcharge caps and the arrival of ride-sharing.