Could a Tax Fix the Gig Economy?

Sohail Rana has driven passengers around New York City for 25 years, first as a taxi driver, then for black-car companies, and now for Uber. He works around 60 hours a week and has no plans to stop working, partially because he can’t afford to stop. “I have no health insurance, no retirement, no other benefits, so I have to keep working,” he told me. When he gets sick, he goes to the emergency room, and loses pay because he’s not working. Recently, he began volunteering with the Independent Drivers Guild, an affiliate of the Machinists Union, to help figure out a way for drivers like him to get some sort of benefits. “As a human being, if you start a job, you want to work where you can get a pension one day, a 401(k), health insurance,” he told me. “Getting paid if you are sick or have to take time off—those are all