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I don't think the issue is just one that young people experience. There's an active fight against entry-level entrepreneurship in terms of fees just to start a

I don't think the issue is just one that young people experience. There's an active fight against entry-level entrepreneurship in terms of fees just to start a business that may not be profitable enough (at least in the short term) to justify the fees. I get why some of the laws exist - for food, fear of health risks, for business more generally, fear that taxes won't be paid or people will be inconvenienced by street vendors. But they are onerous and we'd be better off without them, in my opinion. Let people start small businesses and don't require licenses or fees until they make a threshold above a living wage (30k or so / year).

Waterluvian 8y ago
I like the spirit. But oh my do food vendors have a perfect front for cooking the books and never making 30k.
- Turing_Machine 8y ago
  But they can do that anyway, even if they have all the licenses and other folderol.
ataturk 8y ago
The problem is that we have become "lawed to death" and I hate that about this country. I know everyone thinks there are legal remedies for every problem, but in a free society, that quickly turns into shackles. We might better live with a few warts.
reaperducer 8y ago
>There's an active fight against entry-level entrepreneurship in terms of fees just to start a business This is illustrated well if you peruse the internet fora used by Uber/Lyft/rideshare drivers. Some locations require no licensing at all. Some require just supplemental insurance. Some pile up city/state/local/inspection/insurance fees in the hundreds of dollars just to get started. In Las Vegas, there are annual state and county licensing fees totaling about $225. But a rideshare driver picking someone up at the airport and taking them to MGM, for example, only makes about $3.00 after expenses for what can easily be 45 minutes of time spent (staging + travel + loading + unloading + return to staging). Yes, the problem is really the amount that rideshare drivers make in some cities. But that's a discussion for another time. The point is that all the licensing fees are a barrier to entry for a job that's supposed to be entry-level.
- mikeash 8y ago
  $4/hour isn’t going to be sustainable even if there are no barriers to entry. If it paid properly the barriers could be overcome. There’s a small range of pay where it works only if the barriers are gone, but let’s aim above that range.
- Retric 8y ago
  Taxi where initially regulated back when they where horse and buggies to for two main reasons. Reduce traffic on public roads, and increase daily incomes by reducing numbers of drivers. Ride sharing services don't really change anything it's still extra traffic and over time horrid wages.
syshum 8y ago
Regulations exist mainly for protection of establish businesses to prevent new entry and limit competition, not for safety or taxes even really. This is especially true when talking about zoning, building and health codes which are largely designed to make it very very expensive to start new business to limit competition See Institute for Justice on going lawsuits on behalf of Food Trucks in many cities. It has nothing to do with Public Health, and everything to do with protectionism

Waterluvian 8y ago

I like the spirit. But oh my do food vendors have a perfect front for cooking the books and never making 30k.

Turing_Machine 8y ago
But they can do that anyway, even if they have all the licenses and other folderol.

ataturk 8y ago

The problem is that we have become "lawed to death" and I hate that about this country. I know everyone thinks there are legal remedies for every problem, but in a free society, that quickly turns into shackles. We might better live with a few warts.

reaperducer 8y ago

>There's an active fight against entry-level entrepreneurship in terms of fees just to start a business This is illustrated well if you peruse the internet fora used by Uber/Lyft/rideshare drivers. Some locations require no licensing at all. Some require just supplemental insurance. Some pile up city/state/local/inspection/insurance fees in the hundreds of dollars just to get started. In Las Vegas, there are annual state and county licensing fees totaling about $225. But a rideshare driver picking someone up at the airport and taking them to MGM, for example, only makes about $3.00 after expenses for what can easily be 45 minutes of time spent (staging + travel + loading + unloading + return to staging). Yes, the problem is really the amount that rideshare drivers make in some cities. But that's a discussion for another time. The point is that all the licensing fees are a barrier to entry for a job that's supposed to be entry-level.

mikeash 8y ago
$4/hour isn’t going to be sustainable even if there are no barriers to entry. If it paid properly the barriers could be overcome. There’s a small range of pay where it works only if the barriers are gone, but let’s aim above that range.
Retric 8y ago
Taxi where initially regulated back when they where horse and buggies to for two main reasons. Reduce traffic on public roads, and increase daily incomes by reducing numbers of drivers. Ride sharing services don't really change anything it's still extra traffic and over time horrid wages.

syshum 8y ago

Regulations exist mainly for protection of establish businesses to prevent new entry and limit competition, not for safety or taxes even really. This is especially true when talking about zoning, building and health codes which are largely designed to make it very very expensive to start new business to limit competition See Institute for Justice on going lawsuits on behalf of Food Trucks in many cities. It has nothing to do with Public Health, and everything to do with protectionism