Taxation is, broadly, spent on citizens and citizens benefit from that. I pay taxes that cover the police as well as the schooling that lowers the chance of people around me having to resort to crime.
In the context of Uber vs NJ, the drivers are already remitting taxes as contractors. The $650M demand from the state isn't a driver initiative with them demanding "Uber needs to pay more taxes.." it's the state saying "What we've collected from drivers isn't enough and we want more from Uber.."
>"What we've collected from drivers isn't enough and we want more from Uber.."
Or its fundamentally correct under the law and Uber has misclassified its drivers as independent contracts whereas they should properly be classified as employees.
After all Uber did disclose this was significant risk in their S-1, and further that such a reclassification could be an existential threat to the business.
It sounds conspiratorial, but now that they have gone public (and investors have cashed out and dumped the bag) the money that was roadblocking these moves by government (note the article makes it clear NJ has been pursuing these taxes for 4 years) has dried up and governments will begin to act. Its no surprise to anyone in the know, just follow the money (in this case the shorts)
You are assuming that the Uber drivers are actually paying their unemployment insurance and disability insurance taxes. Chances are they are not doing so, because independent contractors typically don’t pay into those system and are not eligible to receive benefits.
There are a lot of externalities to Uber operations that are currently being paid by the society, the state is simply collecting some compensation from Uber.
