An OfferThey'd Better Not Refuse

AN OFFER THEY’D BETTER NOT REFUSE
By Bob Ward

Nov. 9, 2007 - A couple of city council members in Austin are demonstrating the inherently larcenous nature of government.

Mike Martinez and Betty Dunkerly are proposing to charge taxicabs a $50 annual fee if they have advertising on their cabs.
Placing an ad on an existing taxicab imposes no additional burden on the city – no extra administrative chores, no additional expense. In return for that $50 a year, the city delivers no product, provides no service So why would the city hit up the cab owners with an arbitrary $50 annual fee?

Because it can.

If they don’t pay they will be forcibly denied the opportunity to do business. On the docks in New Jersey, Hoboken and Brooklyn, this is a familiar practice and it has a name. It’s called Extortion. When Italians do
it, it’s considered a crime, when governments do it – and they do it all the time – it’s called revenue generation.

But whatever it’s called the principle is the same – pay up or you will be shut down. And what do you get for your money? You get to exist and earn a living.