Chicago Now reports:
Rideshare services such as UberX and Lyft are booming in Chicago. But like anything else making money on their turf, Chicago politicians want a bigger cut.Alderman Burke : America's most "conflicted " politician. For Alderman Ed Burke's ties to the Chicago Mob click on this.
Alderman Ed Burke, 14th Ward, persuaded Mayor Rahm Emanuel to include a $1-per-ride surcharge on cab rides and rideshare services as part of the mayor’s proposed package of tax increases for 2016 – the largest tax hike in modern Chicago history. Burke estimates the surcharge would raise $70 million annually.
Uber spokesperson Brooke Anderson confirms the new tax would be the highest tax on rideshare services in the nation.
But that’s not enough for Burke. He and Alderman Anthony Beale, 9th Ward, proposed on Sept. 11 additional taxes on rideshare services for surge pricing. (In order to entice more drivers to meet “surges” of demand, Uber and Lyft raise the price of rides during these times.)
Burke and Beale want the new tax to surge, too. If Uber doubles prices during inclement weather to get more drivers on the road, for example, the $1 tax will double to $2 per ride. The surge taxes wouldn’t apply to traditional taxis because the city sets their fares, and their prices don’t fluctuate in response to demand.
So what’s with Burke’s rideshare vendetta? He and Beale also introduced an ordinance last year that would have heavily restricted ridesharing in the Windy City. It failed to pass.
Burke has a history of financial ties to the city’s taxi industry – yet votes on the rules that govern it.
“Taxi Work Drives Burke Into Latest Conflict Corner,” reads a March 1997 headline by Greg Hinz at Crain’s Chicago Business. Hinz found that while Finance Committee Chairman Burke’s law firm had business with Chicago’s largest cab company, Yellow Cab, Chicago’s City Council voted three separate times to boost taxi fares to the benefit of cab companies’ bottom lines.
