He should be using pre-tax numbers for everything - not only is he not deducting any expenses, he's comparing the final after-tax number with the before-tax minimum wage.
Still, assuming his research is accurate at best it comes out at like ~$12 per hour before tax, unless you play russian roulette on the insurance. This of course assumes that it's your full-time job, otherwise the car payments will further reduce the hourly rate.
Self employment tax is higher than just social security tax so you need to look at after tax earrings to compare a 1099 job to a w-2 job. Also, more expences can be deducted as an uber driver than a wage slave ex: a percentage of your cell phone bill and car depreciation.
"You work 215 hours per month on average (50 * 4.3 weeks) and make $4,300 revenue during that time (or $51,600/year).
- Subtract self-employment tax 15.3% - ~$7900
- Taxable income 37,650 - ~$5,300 in taxes so subtract that"
You don't pay self employment tax on revenue you pay it on profit. So if your paying ex:10,000 in expences for gas then you would pay (51,600 - 10,000) * 15.3% = 6364$ in self employment taxes.
Still, assuming his research is accurate at best it comes out at like ~$12 per hour before tax, unless you play russian roulette on the insurance. This of course assumes that it's your full-time job, otherwise the car payments will further reduce the hourly rate.