Theft As A Business Model

And they still don't make money.

Now evidence has emerged suggesting that Uber and New York State regulators were aware of the improper deductions from drivers’ earnings as early as 2015.

The error involved Uber’s taking its commission on fares that included sales tax, rather than on the pretax portion of the fare. If, for instance, a passenger paid $20 for a ride, and if taxes accounted for roughly $2 of that fare, Uber took its commission on the entire $20, rather than on $18.

When admitting the error last week, Uber officials said they had discovered the problem only a few weeks earlier, as the company was updating its contract.

But changes that Uber made to its contract in 2015 suggest that the company has been aware of the issue and grappling with it since at least that year.