Uber employee arrested obstructing tax investigation

The Environment and Transport Inspectorate (ILT) together with police arrested an Amsterdam employee of alternative taxi service Uber for "deliberately not cooperating" when ILT visited the company's headquarters on Thursday, a spokesman said.

ILT raided the headquarters for the first time a week ago but came back after realizing that some paperwork was missing, RTL reported. The Uber employee was arrested for not giving the Inspectorate what they wanted, obstructing investigators from their work.

The investigation is focused on UberPOP drivers not collecting mandated sales tax, or transferring the sales tax to the Belastingdienst tax authority.

With these raids, the inspectors want to get a clear picture of the "total volume of illegal, UberPOP taxi drivers." UberPOP was banned last year by Dutch court but the drivers still keep on providing the illegal service.

Licensed taxi drivers have attacked UberPOP drivers in several cities. They find it unfair that they have to comply with various rules and hold a permit while amateur drivers are taking their customers.