An Assembly bill has been put together for the intention to prohibit cabbies getting tipped for delivering passengers to strip clubs and other nighttime hotspots. It sounds strange, but government is trying to limit or put a stop to kickbacks received by taxi drivers.
The Clark County Liquor Code was amended in 1985, which prohibited liquor license holders from providing "any tip, gift, or gratuity of any kind to any taxicab driver for the delivery of any passenger.” This issue keeps coming up and politicians words were almost the reason the drivers nearly striked this past summer.
Nancy Hancock, Management Analyst for the county Business License Department claimed there were three options: leave it alone; expand it to include tips for limousines and other transport vehicles; or eliminate the whole concept for everyone. Currently, Southern Nevada's 5,000 cabdrivers have estimated that strip club transportation for their customers means a tip for them between $5 and $25. That is about 30% of their take home salaries.
The problem is that it is only a cab issue. The fact that the other vehicles can do the same thing as the cabbie and get away with it seems hardly fair. It seems more about business than law here. |
