Of course they could. This is about revenue. Governments don't make nearly as much money from Uber as they do from taxis. There's the licensing factor, but there's also the way the service is taxed. UberX drivers pay personal income tax, but in most cases are probably not companies, so they probably don't pay company tax. Even Uber's cut of each ride probably isn't recorded as revenue of the local Uber entity, assuming Uber uses the same structure as most other large tech companies.
Long story short, governments are losing a lot of revenue due to Uber and (similarly) Airbnb. Consumers won't abide that as a reason for shutting Uber down, though, so they claim it's less safe. Taxi companies are happy to play along with that.
Long story short, governments are losing a lot of revenue due to Uber and (similarly) Airbnb. Consumers won't abide that as a reason for shutting Uber down, though, so they claim it's less safe. Taxi companies are happy to play along with that.