Ride-hailing companies could face taxes in San Francisco
Ride-hailing companies could be taxed for starting their journeys in San Francisco following a bill signed by California governor Jerry Brown.
The bill - AB 1184 - calls for a 3.25% tax on net rider fares for single-party trips, or those provided by an autonomous vehicle, as well as a 3.25% tax on shared rides.
Additionally, the city or county would be able to set a lower tax rate for net rider fares for those provided by a lower emission vehicle.
A report by the San Francisco Chronicle says the
October 9, 2018
Read time: 2 mins
Ride-hailing companies could be taxed for starting their journeys in San Francisco following a %$Linker: 2External<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary />000link-external billfalsehttps://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1184falsefalse%> signed by California governor Jerry Brown.
The bill - AB 1184 - calls for a 3.25% tax on net rider fares for single-party trips, or those provided by an autonomous vehicle, as well as a 3.25% tax on shared rides.
Additionally, the city or county would be able to set a lower tax rate for net rider fares for those provided by a lower emission vehicle.
A report by the %$Linker: 2External<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary />000link-external San Francisco Chroniclefalsehttps://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/SF-gets-state-s-approval-to-tax-ride-hailing-13248815.phpfalsefalse%> says the bill stems from an agreement between San Francisco supervisor Aaron Peskin, 8336 Uber and 8789 Lyft.
The tax under AB 1184 applies to the amount companies receive, and excludes tolls and airport fees, the report adds.
According to Peskin’s office, the money would amount to $30 million annually over the first few years and would be directed to the San Francisco Country Transportation Authority and used for transit.
Two-thirds of city voters would need to approve for the tax next year for it to be implemented in January 2020.
Drivers who ply their trade on apps such as Uber could be under greater scrutiny as part of proposals being put forward by the UK government.
The potential risk to passengers from the explosion of ride-hailing apps, as private-hire drivers are perceived to receive less thorough vetting – for example, to flag up past convictions – has long been argued.
Incidents such as the murders of passengers by a Didi driver in China heightened such concerns - although critics point out that a US Uber driver who ad