Mayor Lori Lightfoot sure put her foot in her mouth on Wednesday when she accused Uber of offering black ministers a $54 million “payoff” to help kill a new tax plan for ride share services.
Later in the day, Lightfoot backed off that bombshell charge, somewhat. She’s now accusing Uber of offering tens of millions of dollars in “investments” as part of a “divide and conquer strategy” to kill her ride share tax plan.
Uber, a publicly traded company that could face serious repercussions if there were any hint of a “payoff,” insists it made no payments or promises in return for the ministers’ support — and certainly nobody’s been spreading $54 million around town.
If Lightfoot has reason to believe otherwise, she should produce the evidence. But this would not be the first time she has spoken rashly as mayor.
Back in June, the mayor said she’d heard “rumors” that the local cop union, the Fraternal Order of Police, had urged members to sit on their hands and “don’t do anything” over the Memorial Day weekend, during which 7 people were killed.
That didn’t sit well with the FOP, understandably, and the mayor couldn’t back it up.
Lightfoot and Uber have proposed competing new plans for taxing ride hail services in Chicago. Each claims their plan would maximize revenue to the city while doing the most to bring ride share services, at the most reasonable price, to lower-income black neighborhoods that have limited transportation options.
Uber claims its plan would generate $14 million more than Lightfoot’s plan and improve service for the elderly and the poor. Lightfoot says her plan would generate $40 million in taxes, and she is skeptical of Uber’s math. She has accused Uber of “scare-mongering” in the black community to kill her plan, which is also intended to reduce downtown traffic congestion.
Who’s got the better plan? We’re not sure anybody can say for sure. Ride share companies continue to struggle with their business model, and projections about revenue, the impact on congestion and the impact of taxes are inevitably soft.
Our inclination, though, is to side with the mayor’s office. Lightfoot’s still learning the ropes, but she has done nothing to shake our belief that she puts the people of Chicago first.
Uber is another story.
Uber came to town eight years ago and almost immediately began flaunting the local rules, such as working O’Hare Airport before the city gave the green light. The CEO last year was paid $45 million while many Uber drivers were lucky to make the minimum wage, after allowing for expenses.
And if Uber’s deal is the better deal for Chicago, why is City Hall so hard to convince?
Tax plans can be changed. They inevitably are.
However this dispute shakes out, Round Two will begin soon enough.
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