Taxicab licensing in New York City

This article covers the injustice of the taxicab medallion system in New York City, New York.

Background
In New York City, taxis are regulated by the city government such that the right to take street hails requires a medallion. A street hail is when a person in public flags down a taxi in an impromptu fashion rather than calling for transportation by telephone or ordering a transportation service on the Internet. A mediallion is a metal tag that is affixed to the outside of a taxicab car that gives the taxi the right to operate in taking street hails. Taxicab medallions are intentionally extremely limited in number, and are sold in infrequent auctions for enormous prices that are today in the range of hundreds of thousands to millions of U.S. dollars. This regulation, and these medallion sales, are done by the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission. The medallions are tradeable assets. Due to their high costs, most people who want to become taxicab drivers in New York City must lease a medallion from an owner or work for a company that owns or leases a medallion.

The market value of NYC taxi medallions has varied over the years and in response to new transportation businesses such as Uber and Lyft.

Arguments in favor of regarding as an injustice
People should be free to conduct business as taxi drivers without the government encumbering this freedom by artificially limiting the number of taxis that may exist. The taxi medallion system is an artificially-created rent-seeking market in which the price of having the right to do something is super-inflated, creating an unfair barrier to new people entering the taxi market. The system is highly abusive to taxi drivers who have to pay large amounts of their income to medallion owners, who profit merely from the regulation. Having the right to drive taxis should at most be regulated to ensure good taxi service, not to limit the number of taxis or create a financial barrier to doing business in that market. Especially in a capitalist system, people should do business by competing to provide services and things that are of actual value, not because the government helps certain people gain at others' expense.

Arguments against regarding as an injustice
Taxicab medallions are an effective strategy at regulating the taxicab market. Too many taxis would choke the streets of New York City, so it is fair to limit the number of people who can participate in the market, and people should compete financially to have those slots.