Uber protests and legal actions

Uber Technologies Inc, is an American international technology company and transportation network company (TNC) with subsidiaries in many countries.

Taxi industry groups have argued that TNCs are illegal taxicab operations which take away their business. Several communities, governments, and organizations have established rules and regulations that specifically govern TNCs and, in some jurisdictions, TNCs are completely illegal to operate. As of November 2015, Uber was involved in at least 173 lawsuits. The company has also been criticized for aggression towards local officials and journalists. At the same time, people have called for governments to relax legislation in favour of Uber.

In May 2015, the Australian Taxation Office issued a directive stating that drivers that generate income via a TNC need to have an Australian Business Number and be registered to pay GST. Uber filed suit in the Federal Court of Australia, arguing that the public issue by the ATO "unfairly targets Uber's driver-partners". In February 2017, a justice found in favor of the ATO, forcing drivers to register and pay GST. This is despite the standard applied to other small Australian businesses, in which only businesses grossing more than $75,000 are required to collect and remit GST.

On April 30, 2014, Transport for New South Wales, the government authority regarding transportation in New South Wales, Australia, responded to the introduction of ridesharing function of Uber and clarified that "if a NSW driver is taking paying members of the public as passengers, the driver and the vehicle must operate in accordance with the Passenger Transport Act" and "Under the act, such services must be provided in a licensed taxi or hire car, by an appropriately accredited driver, authorised by Roads and Maritime Services (RMS)." In December 2014, the New South Wales government confirmed that they had conducted an unannounced search of the company's Sydney offices in April of that year for law enforcement purposes.

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Wikipedia