Crony Capitalism In Taxi Rules Outlawed In Milwaukee
Wonderful, wonderful Institute for Justice, which defends the civil liberties of people who otherwise couldn't afford legal representation, has won another case.
The video:
About the case:
Milwaukee, WI--In a resounding victory for economic liberty, today Judge Jane Carroll of the Milwaukee Circuit Court struck down the city's taxicab law that outlawed competition in the taxi market. The law, implemented by the city in 1991, caused the price of a taxi permit to rise from $85 to over $150,000. Judge Carroll ruled from the bench shortly after listening to arguments in a lawsuit brought by three local taxi drivers and the Institute for Justice (IJ), the national law firm for liberty."Thanks to today's victory, the city's 20-year taxi monopoly is broken," said IJ Attorney Anthony Sanders. IJ filed suit against the city in September 2011 on behalf of three local taxi drivers. "The court found that in 1991 the city purposely created an unconstitutional taxi system where only the privileged few would benefit and competition would be outlawed."
Judge Carroll found that both of the arguments the city provided for the law were illegitimate. The city argued that officials did not want to hold an annual meeting on the issue of taxicabs. But the judge ruled that public servants cannot write laws that simply save themselves from the trouble of going to a meeting. The city also argued that limited competition would make taxi owners more professional. Judge Carroll rejected that argument as well, saying that all the city did was provide a windfall for those who happened to have cabs in 1991.
One of the taxi owners who testified in support of the law in 1991 said his business would be worth more without having to face competition, and with the law in place he could profit enough to retire some place warm. But today Judge Carroll said that the government cannot pass laws simply to help politically favored businessmen retire to Florida.
"Today's ruling is a textbook example of judicial engagement," said IJ attorney Katelynn McBride. "The judge looked at the facts of this case and rejected the city's bogus arguments, revealing the real reason this law was passed: to protect the politically powerful at the expense of everyone else. The judge ruled that economic protectionism is not a constitutional use of government power."
..."I now believe in the American judicial system," said Milwaukee taxi driver and IJ client Ghaleb Ibrahim. "During the course of this lawsuit, I was fired because the owner of my cab did not like me standing up for my rights. Thanks to today's ruling, I now have the freedom to own my own taxicab. That's exactly what I'm going to do."
Wisconsin as a bastion of common sense and libertarian thought, whudda thunk it?
I guess there's hope for Illinois, New York, Massachusetts, and California. Well, maybe not for California. We're beyond redemption.
Conan the Grammarian at April 18, 2013 12:02 PM
Only $150,000? Is that all? Melbourne and Sydney (Australia) taxi plates go for about $400k, and the Aust and US dollar are at about parity right now, so, yes, that's real money.
This is your classic "we issued a certain number of licenses, now oops if we issue more we destroy the value of the existing ones, so we won't. What do you mean, because we didn't do anything about it 15 years ago the pain will be even worse?". In consequence, getting a cab at busy times is a matter of begging the driver to take you and offering a substantial tip. And looking respectable and clean-cut - it's easier to get into a nightclub now than it is to get a cab home. They cherry-pick fares at taxi ranks, even though that's supposed to be illegal (as part of the deal).
The arguments used to defend the restrictions here are all the same as quoted above, plus the trope that it's unfair on the drivers to deregulate because the market will get flooded. I'm not certain how 50% (it's about that) of the fare going to the owner so he can make his repayments on the loan he took to buy the plates helps the driver, but obviously they're smarter than me.
Ltw at April 18, 2013 9:42 PM
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