Upon receiving the news that Uber’s services would be subject to GST sales taxes, the company began encouraging its customers to resist.
Uber has taken up several campaigns to get its message of discontent across to its customers, including sending out emails asking them to contact their MP and state their distaste with the new legislation.
These new protocols will make Uber subject to the same taxation rules as taxi companies, which the San Francisco-based ride hailing company is calling “a tax on innovation.”
Users of the service began posting these personalized emails on Twitter, which asked the recipient to register their complaints about the new tax with their MP. These emails also claim that the tax will drive up the cost of Uber’s ride-sharing service by 15 percent.
In addition, Uber launched a website with the headline “Stand up for affordable transportation.” The website also explains that many Uber drivers currently do not have to pay sales tax if they make less than $30 thousand per year.
According to several reports, these actions are in response to the announcement of the federal budget, which revealed a 5 percent increase on the Goods and Services tax applied to Uber services.
Tech journalists call the emails misleading, as they portray the hikes as a “new tax policy” rather than an attempt to bring the company into compliance with existing policies, and go on to explain that Uber is already in compliance with these laws in some regions.
So far, there’s been no indication that these attempts have had any impact on the government’s intention to tax Uber’s services.
Source: Alphabeatic
