For those wondering why this is WSJ news —<p>Uber wouldn’t be profitable, or even viable, if it had to reimburse for mileage like any other business does. In the business world, offsetting a billion dollar expense off of your books altogether is newsworthy.<p>The federal government left a loophole in the mileage coverage rules, specifying that only employees of a business need to be reimbursed for mileage. Uber exploits this loophole by treating each driver as a business, but also prohibits them from operating as a business of 2+ people, which forces drivers into a scenario where they are not reimbursed for their costs by any business - yet are somehow considered a ‘business’ even though they are no such thing.<p>That’s financially newsworthy for those considering whether to invest in Uber or replicate its abuse of law, as the chances remain high that the government will find their contractor arrangement in violation of labor law.<p>Uber’s practices, and therefore Uber’s risks, apply theoretically to any business that uses “individual independent contractors” (Uber, Lyft) to offset these costs. It is unresolved what will come of this attempt to sidestep employee reimbursement rules.