Late Thursday night the Georgia State House gave final approval for a plan to charge a $.50 flat fee on ride-hailing services like Uber, Lyft and taxis. A $.25 fee would apply to pool rides. The proposal needs final agreement by the state Senate to become law, because of a last-minute, minor amendment to the bill. It’s unclear when that will happen since the state legislature is suspended indefinitely due to the risks of the coronavirus.
If signed into law, it would preempt an existing marketplace facilitator law, which will require online stores and platforms to collect sales tax as of April 1. Uber and Lyft had advocated for the flat fee because the up to 9% in sales tax would have constituted the second-highest tax on rideshares in the country.
The fee was added into an existing bill, which grants Georgia farmers a state income tax exemption on disaster relief received after Hurricane Michael.
Uber spokeswoman Evangeline George thanked the legislature for voting “to help keep rideshare affordable and to keep their constituents from paying one of the highest taxes in the country.”
Correction: This post has been corrected to show that the law that would impose the tax still needs to be approved by the state Senate.
