They say there are only two things that are certain in life: death and taxes. While we don't want to talk about dying - that is so not the point of this article - we do want to highlight that there may be a new ride sharing tax coming to a city near you.
In Massachusetts, there is a 20 cent-a-ride fee imposed on every Uber or Lyft ride. This is for "congestion management" purposes, but in reality it is so cash strapped cities - or tax hungry bureaucrats - can rake in more money to pay for their special pet program.
This is happening in San Francisco, where a Supervisor recently asked the City to begin researching when and how it can impose a new fee on drivers in the City. Because the Bay Area has over 45,000 ride sharing drivers, a small fee of just 20 cents could bring the City tens of millions of dollars.
But you might be saying 20 cents doesn't sound so bad if the City can bring in money for special programs. But think about it in this way: that 20 cents a ride would probably cost you around $250 in extra taxes a year, roughly the same as being charged for an extra set of car tags. And what will you - the driver- get in exchange? Absolutely nothing.
The new fees (taxes) will not be spent on improving schools, hospitals, or the needy; instead, they will be spent to pay high-priced consultants how to "mitigate" traffic in the City even though the City already knows how to do that, but just refuses to.
We'll be paying close attention to this development, as it is not just happening in San Francisco. Many other cities might be thinking about this, and it can end up hitting you - and your wallet - pretty hard.