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Uber Hit with $650M Employment Tax Bill in New Jersey

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Re: Uber Hit with $650M Employment Tax Bill in New Jersey

#51

Post by lwf »

mherdeg wrote: post #22

Is the limited-liability corporation that Uber uses called "Raiser LLC" or "Rasier LLC"? I swear I've seen it spelled both ways, although only "Rasier" in Uber receipts. What's the etymology?

Both, although it's possible it's only "Raiser" in some locales[1] as a typo — Uber's liability insurance paperwork[2] and site[3] refer exclusively to "Rasier".

[1]: http://tsa1.nv.gov/ActiveCertificatesDetail.asp?cCertNum=TNC...

[2]: https://ubernewsroomapi.10upcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/...

[3]: https://www.uber.com/global/en/cities/washington-dc/

There's at least one document[4] where Rasier LLC forms a subsidieary `Raiser-CA, LLC`.

[4]: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/9kwjz5/unicorn-trank-and-... , specifically https://video-images.vice.com/_uncategorized/1500911986571-S...

Re: Uber Hit with $650M Employment Tax Bill in New Jersey

#53

Post by pitaj »

Please don't quote with code blocks. It breaks formatting by forcing horizontal scrolling, and is especially bad on mobile.

Requoted:

> Employee and employer state Unemployment Insurance tax rates will apply to the first $34,400 of an employee’s earnings in 2019 (up from $33,700 in 2018). For 2019, employees are subject to a 0.0425% (.000425) Workforce Development Partnership Fund tax rate. The employee Unemployment Insurance tax rate remains at 0.3825% (.003825) of taxable payroll.

Re: Uber Hit with $650M Employment Tax Bill in New Jersey

#54

Post by [deleted] »

afterburner wrote: post #38
toomuchtodo wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Illinois: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-illinois-pensions/illinoi... (Illinois' unfunded pension liability climbs to $133.5 billion) https://www.policyed.org/pension-pursuit/pension-liability-s... (PolicyEd: Interactive Map of Pension Liability by State and City) Illinois is an outlier, and is seriously in trouble, but most other states will be fine.

Spread out over how many years?

[deleted]

Re: Uber Hit with $650M Employment Tax Bill in New Jersey

#55

Post by nitwit005 »

nemo44x wrote: post #24

There's no escaping this from states like NJ, CA, IL, MA, and NY. These states (of which I am a member of) are broke with pension obligations waiting to bankrupt the government. Taxes are already high both on income and property so there's nowhere to go there. They have old infrastructures and although the citizens are heavily taxed, government can't make improvements in large part because of lifetime pension obligat…

The idea that you should pay unemployment insurance and social security isn't something radical. It's the basics of how things are supposed to work across the US.

If anything, it's surprising the states are being so slow to crack down on this stuff.

Re: Uber Hit with $650M Employment Tax Bill in New Jersey

#56

Post by listenallyall »

navigatr wrote: post #50
kapuasuite wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These are the same elected officials who let taxi companies rip off passengers for the better part of a century by limiting competition through the medallion system, and protect hotel interests because they’ve been able to tack a ton of extra taxes onto every hotel bill?

These talking points died in 2016. Now that Uber isn't subsidizing rides with investor's money and raised their fares, Uber is actually more expensive than taxis in NJ. There's no reason ride hailing companies need to violate labor laws to do business.

Source? At EWR a few weeks ago while waiting for luggage, I wandered over to the taxi stand. The quoted fare (there was no line, by the way) was twice that of either Uber or Lyft to the same destination.

Re: Uber Hit with $650M Employment Tax Bill in New Jersey

#57

Post by navigatr »

listenallyall wrote: post #56
navigatr wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These talking points died in 2016. Now that Uber isn't subsidizing rides with investor's money and raised their fares, Uber is actually more expensive than taxis in NJ. There's no reason ride hailing companies need to violate labor laws to do business.

Source? At EWR a few weeks ago while waiting for luggage, I wandered over to the taxi stand. The quoted fare (there was no line, by the way) was twice that of either Uber or Lyft to the same destination.

I commute in NJ and used ride hailing apps until it was just cheaper to use taxis. I wouldn't use any liaison service at an airport, they're going to charge an arm and a leg for the purported convenience.

Edit: I'm not doxxing myself, sorry. I'm within commuting distance of NYC.

Re: Uber Hit with $650M Employment Tax Bill in New Jersey

#58

Post by umeshunni »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #11
navigatr wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, nearly 70% of voters voted against allowing short-term rentals. AirBnb spent over $4 million on that local election alone[1]. [1] https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/06/airbnb-suffers-setback-in-je...

Proof that voting works (IMHO). Local residents won against a distant corporate entity.

NIMBYs always win.

Re: Uber Hit with $650M Employment Tax Bill in New Jersey

#59

Post by fungiblecog »

jdhn wrote: post #41
Accujack wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Closing the loophole in the law that lets them treat workers as "contractors" rather than employees is going to torpedo their whole business model.

I'm not sure why people think that drivers for Uber & Lyft shouldn't be treated as "contractors". I know I'm in the minority on this, but to me it seems that you can jump in and out of employment with Uber & Lyft quite easily, to the point that it does seem more like contract work. As an anecdote, I took a Lyft to the airport with someone who had stopped driving for 6 months in order to get started with a new full ti…

Contractors can set their own rates. These drivers are employees.

Re: Uber Hit with $650M Employment Tax Bill in New Jersey

#60

Post by [deleted] »

listenallyall wrote: post #56
navigatr wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These talking points died in 2016. Now that Uber isn't subsidizing rides with investor's money and raised their fares, Uber is actually more expensive than taxis in NJ. There's no reason ride hailing companies need to violate labor laws to do business.

Source? At EWR a few weeks ago while waiting for luggage, I wandered over to the taxi stand. The quoted fare (there was no line, by the way) was twice that of either Uber or Lyft to the same destination.

[deleted]
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