, Columnist
Robbing the New (Uber) to Subsidize the Old (Taxis)
Massachusetts's new tax is outrageous, of course, but it could ultimately benefit today's upstarts.
Old school.
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Ronald Reagan famously summed up the logic of government thusly: “If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.”
Uber and Lyft move, so naturally, the state of Massachusetts wants to tax them. And since taxis aren’t moving nearly as much as they used to, the state wants to hand about a quarter of the tax -- five cents out of a 20-cent per-ride levy -- to the taxi industry.