Lyft has stopped deducting phantom taxes from drivers’ pay, labor group says
Lyft has ceased deducting taxes from drivers’ pay that didn’t need to be collected in the first place, the Independent Drivers Guild (IDG) said Tuesday.
With Labor Day 2017 just barely in the books, the IDG characterized the development as a victory – and proof that collective action works – by Lyft’s decision to cease deducting sales tax on rides that it wasn’t required to pay taxes on.
Lyft had a different perspective on the change in rates.
“Recent changes to our rate structure in New York had been planned for months,” Lyft spokesman Adrian Durbin said in a written statement. “IDG’s charges are baseless and played no role in our decision. We have always abided by our driver agreement, which clearly states commissions and fees.”
In June, the IDG raised a ruckus over Lyft’s pocketing the sales tax on both in-state and interstate trips when the tax is only supposed to apply to interstate trips. The group called the practice a form of wage theft. Yet Uber, the embattled pioneer of ride-hailing, also started improperly collecting the tax like Lyft, the IDG says.
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