I owe the taxman. I owe nearly $1,000 in federal taxes. Wow!
And most of taxes being owed to the feds is coming from driving for Uber. Yeah, the ride sharing service that is making billions on the backs of individuals willing to use their own vehicle as a taxi.
Uber doesn't take federal and state taxes out of the rides. I am considered an independent contractor, not an employee for Uber. So I am responsible for deductions. I am the employee and employer. I am using their namesake, my vehicle and my patience with riders.
For what it's worth, I made a lot of money driving for Uber. But the car has taken on lots of miles, partial damage from riders, and costly repairs. I'm even considering finding other options to make money.
Uber continues to lower the rates on rides, the pickups are getting longer and the demand for drivers is shrinking because of a competitive market. Uber is in the red and they're making sacrifices at the expense of the drivers, the riders and investors.
It's also facing a PR crisis within its ranks.
Sexual harassment is the biggest issue facing Uber. Many of the female corporate executives are reporting that some of the employees are sexually harassing workers.
An essay from Medium went viral. It depicted a toxic culture towards women heads all the way to the CEO's office. From sexual harassment to blackmail, many of the female employees have said that Uber have ignored the complaints.
And it also got worse when Travis Kalanick got an earful from an Uber driver named Fawzi Kamel.
Kamel is a driver from Houston and he picked up the Uber CEO and two female companions.
During the ride, the driver overheard the women ask Kalanick about Uber's proposals. He also said that he didn't care if the drivers were suffering. That set Kamel off.
Kamel had an opportunity to complain about falling fares. That got Kalanick's attention and wrath.
"You know what? Some people don't like to take responsibility for their own shit. They blame everything in their life on somebody else. Good luck!"
The CEO got out and slammed the door. Kamel gave him a one-star rating and sent the exchange to Bloomberg.
Kamel said that Uber failed him and others. He is bankrupt and struggling to obtain the benefits from driving as an Uber Black driver.
Travis Kalanick faces a PR shitstorm. |
Kamel dismissed the apology and said that Uber is waste of time.
He said that Uber Black drivers like him are expected to drive recent versions of certain models of car but get squeezed by the company's shift toward the budget end of the market.
"The real issue is that the first Uber Black car drivers are the real investors in Uber," said Kamel. "How come the angel investors in Uber turned their $20,000 into millions, but the original Uber Black car drivers got nothing?"
Some of Barack Obama's former cabinet have ties to Uber. Arianna Huffington, the former CEO of the Huffington Post is a partial investor in the company. For some time, the CEO of Uber was a part of Trump's economic forum.
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