The city charges the same fees for licenses and plates across the board and the plates are supposedly non-transferable. Here's an outline of the process the last time new plates were released in 2013 (in business-like Comic Sans, no less):
http://www.calgary.ca/PDA/DBA/Docume...on-process.pdf
The city charges renewal fees for licenses and plates and charges brokerage fees and transfer fees:
http://www.calgary.ca/CSPS/ABS/Pages...-and-Fees.aspx
But none of this suggests that plates are worth $200k and up except on a secondary market. And if that's the case, the city isn't getting a cut, right? So why should the city care if adding new plates and getting more cabs on the streets devalue existing plates and undermining what seems to be a sketchy at best and illegal at worst secondary market?
The city should have no other interest than providing affordable and safe transportation for citizens and unless there are additional fees or kickbacks I'm not seeing, they could accomplish this goal by adding more plates. Make the fees high enough to cover the costs of inspecting the cabs for safety and to ensure that only serious bidders apply. Then get out of the way.