June 15, 2015
Wow, it’s the sharing economy, everything is new and different. Hey, they don’t have to pay the fees that those stupid old taxi companies do, because you order them on the Internet.
Sorry to be a bit negative early on a Monday morning, but I was just reading in the Washington Post that Uber is arguing that it should not have to pay the same fees as traditional taxi companies to pick people up at airports. Uber says the fees are too high.
I have no strong opinion about the size of these fees, which are effectively a tax on taxi travel that is used to support the operation of the airport. However, there is no basis for Uber paying lower fees than their competitors in traditional taxi companies, even if it is cooler.
This is the sort of tripe that doesn’t pass the laugh test as serious policy. There is much about the regulation of the taxi industry that is archaic and should be changed, but the goal should be a uniform system of regulation, not a system that leaves the traditional sector heavily encumbered by regulation and allows Uber to do whatever it wants.
It is of course ironic to be reading about this in a newspaper owned by Jeff Bezos, who became one of the richest people in the world through his ownership in a company that does not collect the same sales tax as its brick and mortar competitors. Its savings on sales tax collections almost certainly exceeds its cumulative profits since it came into existence.
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