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That's an invalid analogy. A valid analogy would be that you purchased a fishing license from your state's Department of Fish and Wildlife because you were told

That's an invalid analogy. A valid analogy would be that you purchased a fishing license from your state's Department of Fish and Wildlife because you were told one was legally required to fish in a certain location, but the Department of Fish and Wildlife then failed to take action against others who began fishing in that same location without a license. Good idea or horrible idea, certain cities created licensing regimes that promised to protect taxi drivers from competition if they paid for medallions. Now that others are flouting the law and circumventing the licensing regime, the taxi drivers want their protection money back if they're not going to receive the protection they were promised.

xmodem 12y ago
In terms of individual taxi drivers who took out massive loans this is a valid argument. In terms of the rent-seeking institutional investors who lobbied the government to create an asset class which diverts most of the profits away from the people actually doing the work and makes taxis more expensive for no return in public benefit. I have no issue with government regulation of the taxi industry - quite the opposite. Certainly I think that it's important to mandate vehicle safety inspections. But if taxi licenses are going to be supply constrained, they should be issued by the government for a flat fee on a first-come first-served, use-it-or-lose-it basis. They should only be purchasable by the driver that will be driving the taxi and they should not be transferrable.