Local Regulations Hurt Business Start-ups?

U.S. News:

How much do entrepreneurs need to fear regulation? It turns out that you can be punished for being an entrepreneur inadvertently. According story out of the Miami area:

“A man who said he thought he was just helping a woman in need is accused of running an illegal taxi service. Miami-Dade County’s Consumer Services Department has slapped Rosco O’Neil with $2,000 worth of fines, but O’Neil claims he is falsely accused.”

Miami’s established taxicab services have less competition to worry about because there’s a law against unregistered taxi services. That makes it expensive for new entrepreneurs to get their feet in the door. But that’s not true everywhere. For example, in Denver, a small group of cabdrivers was able to found a cab company by getting the state licensing laws overturned in court. The Institute of Justice, the public-interest law firm that represented them in that case, keeps track of many of the other instances around the country where established businesses benefit from local regulations that nip start-up businesses in the bud.

Image via AAA Taxi Florida

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