The majority of minicab companies operate as an agency.. which keeps the operating company below the VAT threshold. Uber reduces their liability in the same way.
Mini cab drivers have private hire licence (not a Hackney carriage licence, that a taxi which trawls the street looking for a fare)... Uber drivers have he same license as Minicab drivers.
A mini cab is usually ordered by phoning up the agency, and the driver picks up at your location... Uber you use an app, but the process is the same. Neither are allowed to be hailed from the road.
With minicabs, the car and fuel is often provided by the agency.. which makes it more of an employer than uber (where the car and fuel is provided by the self-employed contractor)!
I agree with these articles: https://www.ft.com/content/7ca2f852-b5b5-11e7-a398-73d59db9e... https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/sep/27/uber-says...
Uber is simply a better version of private hire, I don't think that's in dispute by anyone. But how does it compare against taxis seems to be what the discussion is about.
* several government sanctioned intermediaries get a cut (who, I'm sure, are entirely unrelated to the politicians running the city)
* direct tax is paid on the taxi cab licence to the government