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The City of Bonavista has taken a new approach to dealing with airbnb hosts who represent unfair competition for hotels and bread-and-breakfast ins because they don't pay business taxes. They cut your sewer and water lines.
Bonavista cuts off services for Airbnb operators with unpaid business tax bills.
"We have gone to some pretty serious measures to collect. We have literally dug up driveways and turned off water (and) sewer service until the bill is paid, cutting them off completely from all municipal services.
-- Mayor John Norman
If people can't even drive their car onto your property, take a shower, use the toilet, you're pretty motivated to pony up.
The mayor said the taxation method has been successful, but he acknowledges not all Airbnb owners are pleased.
"I don't think some are happy about it, but it is what it is."
This is a pretty effective fix to unfair competition by airbnb hosts. The next question is, how can we apply the same thinking to uber and lyft?
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday September 12 2019, @01:56AM (4 children)
Corporate personhood is a thing throughout the developed world. You just don't recognize it as such because the law looks somewhat different.
Which is absurd since any actual business consists of people whose human rights you would be violating. They would be the ones with standing.
The targets were paying for their utilities. They got cut off anyway. Would it be any different, if they were being cut off because they were disputing a car repair and refused to pay?
(Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Friday September 13 2019, @12:41AM (3 children)
As for your other argument, time for a car analogy. That would be like arguing that you should not have your car impounded because you had no vehicle registration or plates because you made your car payments.
SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday September 13 2019, @03:29AM (2 children)
Congrats. You just summed up corporate personhood everywhere. The US is no different in that respect.
I think mine was better.
(Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Friday September 13 2019, @03:34PM (1 child)
Companies do NOT have human rights in Canada. Anyone is entitled to discriminate against them, they cannot make political donations (same as any other non-citizen), and they have no right to appeal to the various Human Rights commissions, because they don't have human rights.
There is no Citizens United decision in Canada, and never will be, because our Constitution doesn't extend to business rights. Only people.
There's also no Hobby Lobby decision here in Canada, and never will be, because that too would be an unconstitutional extension of freedom of reliegion to businesses. You operate a business, you cannot cite your religious beliefs to deny service to someone. Your options are to either (a) serve them anyway, (b) supply a staff member who will serve the client, or (c) close your business and fuck off.
You're a pharmacist who doesn't want to sell the morning-after pill or birth control pills? Those are your 3 options - and if you refuse to serve someone with a prescription for birth control pills or the morning after pill, the Order of Pharmacists will revoke your license to serve anyone anything. They sent that warning out several years ago in response to a few pharmacists who tried to impose their religious views about abortion and birth control on clients.
Same thing applies to doctors - if your religious beliefs prevent you from rendering service in a particular instance, you are required to find a doctor who will do so, or lose your license to practice medicine.
Human rights don't apply to commercial operations, and both doctors and pharmacists are running businesses, they're not working for free for charity.
SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday September 13 2019, @11:09PM
And as I noted the legal persons who own and run the moral person can lay claim.
Saying it doesn't make it true.