October 30, 2007

Bigger Government = Less Freedom

While Nashville's liberal government continues to limit the number of taxicabs on the streets of Nashville - resulting in less service for customers, less price competition, and fewer job and entrepreneurial opportunities for people who might want to go into the taxicab business, in Minneapolis a federal magistrate has recommended that a lawsuit brought by members of that city's taxi cartel to overturn the city's free-market taxicab reforms be dismissed.

The Institute for Justice reports:

"This is a victory for both aspiring taxi entrepreneurs and for Minneapolis consumers," said Scott Bullock, a senior attorney at the Institute for Justice who argued the case. "Established businesses should not be able to use the law to quash competition and close the marketplace. Today's ruling ensures that does not happen."

The Institute for Justice Minnesota Chapter (IJ-MN) intervened in the case on the side of the city of Minneapolis to defend its free-market reforms that removed a cap on the number of taxis allowed to operate within city limits. The reforms, finalized on March 30, 2007, will open the market to entrepreneurs who are fit, willing and able to serve the public, increase the number of cabs by 180 in the coming years, and eliminate completely the cap on the number of cabs in Minneapolis by 2010.

...In his opinion, Judge [Franklin L.] Noel determined: "The [established] taxi vehicle license holders do not have a constitutionally protected freedom from competition."

Update: For more background and links to research into pocketbook and economic impacts of government-protected taxicab cartels, see this post of mine from two years ago.