Editorial: Regulate, not ban, taxi ‘tips’

Friday, Feb. 1, 2002 | 9:41 a.m.

The state of Nevada, the city of Las Vegas and Clark County all have laws aimed at prohibiting taxicab drivers from receiving "tips"-- the unkind word is kickbacks -- from businesses including restaurants and adult nightclubs. Nevada's law targets drivers and the local laws target businesses with liquor licenses. Three laws, yet the practice has continued to flourish. The Nevada Taxicab Authority will discuss this issue at its Feb. 19 meeting. Its administrator, John Plunkett, says he will ask that the state regulation be rescinded. The city and county should pay close attention.

Several adult clubs recently sued because of an inequity in the city and county regulations. Overlooked when those regulations were adopted in 1985 were the clubs featuring nude entertainers but no alcohol. With no anti-tipping laws that could be enforced against these so-called sex-tease clubs, they enjoyed a decided competitive advantage. That's why District Court Judge Sally Loehrer on Jan. 7 issued a preliminary injunction ordering a halt to all such tipping. But that's not a good permanent answer.

Tipping should be allowed and laws that create an uneven playing field should be rescinded. It's the behavior of taxicab drivers who violate the authority's "Taxi Rider's Bill of Rights" that should be targeted. The laws were passed largely because cab drivers were diverting customers from their requested destinations toward similar places that paid handsome tips. Restaurants at the time told the county that diversion amounted to unfair competition. County commissioners discussed the obvious problem of enforcement, but concluded that restaurant and nightclub owners whose licenses were endangered by the practice would quit cold turkey.

As the lawsuit before Judge Loehrer demonstrates, the laws had little effect. In the marketplace of clubs and restaurants the tipping of cab drivers is seen as a cost of doing business. It's a free enterprise activity that government should regulate but not ban. The Taxi Rider's Bill of Rights is an enforceable guarantee by the Taxicab Authority that drivers will conduct themselves professionally. The No. 1 right states that riders have total control over where they are taken. Drivers who violate passengers' rights under this bill should be hauled before a disciplinary board before they haul another passenger.

Plunkett, the Taxicab Authority administrator, is a former Buffalo, N.Y., policeman and former FBI agent. He said the tipping issue will be on the February agenda of the five-member Taxicab Authority board because the law puts the authority in the position of having to "enforce the unenforceable." Thirty-five of the Taxicab Authority's 57 employees are commissioned police officers, but Plunkett said they are overwhelmed with these annual statistics: 2,500 accidents a year involving cab drivers, up to 150 armed robberies against cab drivers, and the issuance of 3,000 citations for driving offenses. Catching drivers taking tips is just not a priority, he said.

As the authority begins discussing the tipping issue, the central question should be: In what way is the public harmed? Critics say the tipping practice drives up cover charges at clubs. But cover charges are expected by nightclub patrons, and they seem willing enough to pay. The public is harmed by diversion and it's this type of behavior that should be -- and Plunkett promises it will be -- aggressively disciplined. True, the risk of losing licenses did not stop anything in 1985. But also true is that tipping never cost anyone a license. Yanking the licenses of boorish drivers would better serve the public than laws aimed at banning what occurs naturally in the marketplace.