If Chicago politicians have their way, Airbnb prices will rise as the city enforces $500 licensing requirements against those who rent out rooms through online services.
Besides what appears to be retaliation against a citizen for exercising his First Amendment rights, the incident reveals the absurdity of Chicago’s ban on airport pickups for popular services such as Uber, Lyft and Sidecar.
As companies such as Uber fight to bring driving jobs to underserved neighborhoods, City Council wants to require expensive licensing in exchange for access to customers at airports.
Chicagoans know new revenues won’t be used to pay for better roads, classrooms or public safety – these tax hikes won’t even fix what’s ailing the city’s bottom line.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel calls for property-tax hikes, garbage-collection fees and ridesharing surcharges as a stop-gap measure to plug the city’s $750 million budget hole.
There’s no good reason for Bloomington's government to stand between drivers who want to offer this service and would-be customers who want to take advantage of it.
On Sep. 30, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office announced the “2014 Taxi Driver Fairness Reforms,” which purport to be major improvements that “[put] thousands of dollars back into [Chicago taxi drivers’] pockets” and “[cut] bureaucratic red tape” these drivers have to navigate. The reforms, some of which will need to be passed in a new...
Chicago’s $1.15 billion projected budget gap is the latest in a decades-long string of structural deficits. Making Chicago’s high taxes worse is not the solution.