lyft, uber, airbnb and municipalities: maximizing tax and...
TRANSCRIPT
Lyft, Uber, Airbnb and Municipalities:
Maximizing Tax and Licensing Revenue
OpportunitiesNavigating Legal, Regulatory and Tax Issues in the Peer-to-Peer Economy
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THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 2019
Presenting a live 90-minute webinar with interactive Q&A
Jonathan M. Huerta, Attorney, King Spry Herman Freund & Faul, Bethlehem, Pa.
Abbey Stemler, Assistant Professor of Business Law and Ethics, Indiana University, Bloomington, Ind.
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NOTE
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Overview of ride-sharing issues
Overview of home-sharing issues
Review of recent developments, cases
Enforcing, drafting regulations and ordinances
Strategies for recovering and maximizing revenue
TODAY’S AGENDA
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R al l , Ted. R al l . com,August 4 , 2015.
http://ra l l . com/comic/the -g ig -economy
THE GIG
ECONOMY
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Not a new concept
One person has resources, another person wants to use them temporarily
Technology changed how the arrangements were made
▪ From classifieds/bulletin boards
▪To Craigslist
▪To apps
Businesses capitalize on the technology
UNDERSTANDING THE SHARING/GIG
ECONOMY
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Sharing Economy
▪ From perspective of consumer
Gig Economy
▪ From perspective of employer/employee
Transportation Network Company
▪Uber, Lyft
▪Make-up lion share of Gig Economy – approximately 56%
Lodging Network Company
▪AirBNB, HomeAway, PrivateAcre
TERMINOLOGY
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eBay
Etsy
Uber
Lyft
Postmates
GrubHub
AirBNB
HomeAway
Turo
TaskRabbit
YourMechanic
THE PLAYERS
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BY THE NUMBERS
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Uber
▪$60B
▪Planning $120B IPO (doubled value in 2 months)
Lyft
▪$15.1B
AirBNB
▪$30-38B
HomeAway
▪$3B
Turo
▪$50M
Leftover Swap
▪Priceless…or maybe worthless
BY THE NUMBERS
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AirBNB
HomeAway/VRBO
PrivateAcre
Websites (brokers) enable occupants (hosts) to rent their living space
Entire homes to spare bedrooms to couches
Single day to weeklong rentals
HOME-SHARING
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Land-Use Impact
▪Permits or illegal adaptation of homes into mini-hotels
▪Change in residential character
▪ Loss in housing value
Revenue
▪Transient Occupancy Tax
▪How to collect
THE DISRUPTION
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Code Enforcement
▪Home-Sharing Specific Regulations
▪Occupancy
▪ Supervision
▪ Location
▪Remedies
▪Administrative Complaint Procedure
▪ Litigation
▪ Fines
Zoning considerations
▪ Lawful nonconforming use
MANAGING THE DISRUPTION
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Local Ordinances
Fees
▪Transient Occupancy Taxes
▪Registration
▪Annual Inspections
▪Permits
▪ Insurance
FROM THE PRIVATE SECTOR
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AKA Transportation Network Companies
Web-based applications connect users and drivers
Allow potential passengers to select from classes of drivers, as well as track location of drivers, and manage payment/tips
RIDE-SHARING
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Regulations
▪TNCs compete with taxis, but may not be subject to common carrier requirements
▪UBER/PUC litigation
Safety Requirements
▪ State or Local Municipality
▪ Federal Preemption
THE DISRUPTION
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Regulations
▪ Licensing
▪ Fees
▪ADA/Common carrier compliance
▪ Fare rates/surge pricing
▪ Safety
▪ Insurance
▪Background checks
▪Checks for vehicle
How to effectively regulate
▪UBER/Greyball & Waymo
MANAGING THE DISRUPTION
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Competition with Taxis
▪Barriers to entry
Employee/Employer Relations
▪Numerous lawsuits across country challenging classification
▪ Flexibility in schedule
▪Workers drive earnings
▪ Independent investment
▪Unionization
▪ Seattle Ordinance
FROM THE PRIVATE SECTOR
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RECENT NATIONAL CASES
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• General• Section 230 Denial of Preemption
• HomeAway.com v. City of Santa Monica, No. 18-55367 (9th Cir. 2019)
• Data Sharing Prohibition• Airbnb Inc. v. City of New York, 18-cv-7712 (U.S. District
Court, Southern District of New York)• Ridesharing specifically• Uber drivers classified as independent contractors
• O'Connor v. Uber, No. 14-16078 (9th Cir. 2018)
GENERAL REGULATORY RESPONSES
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• Prohibition• Austin (Uber)
• Command-and-Control• New York (Uber)
• Submission• Indiana (Airbnb)
• Collaboration• San Francisco (Airbnb)
DRAFTING AND ENFORCING
REGULATIONS
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• Focus on Platforms• Section 230 will not be an issue
• Command-and-control:• Ensure that Section 230 does not apply• Check for state preemption, if local• Beware of platform advocacy and push-back• Regulate the platforms and not individual users• Need data sharing
• Submission• Fails to address important market failures
• Collaboration• Tailored agreements allows for creativity and data sharing• Can be good, but difficult to enforce
STRATEGIES FOR RECOVERING AND
MAXIMIZING REVENUE
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• Taxes• State
• Sales• County/city
• Occupancy/innkeepers • Require platforms to collect
• State or local rules• Local jurisdictions, make sure that enabling statutes don’t
restrict you• Private agreements
• Minor success stories• Florida, New York, Boston
Will the Gig-economy last?
▪Workers declining or take-home pay declining
Driverless Ride-Sharing
▪Waymo (Google) and Uber
THE FUTURE
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To les , Tom. Wa sh in g ton Post , O ctober 5 , 2015 . https : / / w ww.wa sh ington p o st .co m/news/o p i n io n s /wp/2015/1 0/ 0 5/ th e-so- ca l l e d - g i g -economy -co u l d -a l so -b e - ca l l e d -the -gag -economy/ ?t i d= s s_mai l&ut m _ ter m=.2a9b5c d dd a 19
The so-called Gig Economy could also
be called the Gag Economy26
OFFLINE QUESTIONS?
Abbey’s Research:
https://tinyurl.com/y4n3nwj9
Presented by
Jonathan M. Huerta , Esqui re
KingSpry Law F i rm
And
Abbey S temler, Ass i stant Professor Bus iness Law and Eth ics , Ind iana Univers i ty
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