[nybble41]

> … thereby harming all those companies and citizens that do pay their taxes as required.

The only one harming them is the tax collector. Taxes are the harm here; Uber is providing a means for some to avoid being harmed. It's just too bad that they can't help everyone else the same way.

[WJW]

I don't know where you are from, but in the Netherlands our taxes actually pay for useful stuff. Corruption is low and public infrastructure is well maintained. Sure, it would have been even better if some things had been avoided (the F-35 springs to mind) but overall taxes bring more good than harm to the citizens here.

[nybble41]

Taking what belongs to someone else and choosing how it will be used without the owner's consent is the purest essence of theft. It makes no difference whatsoever that—according to your own values and preferences, not theirs—you think the benefit outweighs the cost. You don't get to make that choice for them. Regardless of how the money is used the very fact that their choice was taken away is harmful in itself, and only by returning what was stolen—plus compensation for lost time and opportunities—can the victim be made whole.