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The entire 'gig economy' model is exploitation. It only works because of income inequality. It requires a large pool of workers who don't make enough money to support themselves (due to insane healthcare and housing costs, and low wages and benefits) and thus will take any money they can get, despite the poor pay, long hours, and lack of benefits. It's taking a person slowly dying of thirst and offering them a thimble of water in exchange for knitting a sock.

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Could not the IRS fix this in one swoop by declaring that "gig workers" are employees?

Presumably, but what do you think the lobbyists are for?

Unfortunately it wouldn't fix anything. It would kill gig work because the model isn't sustainable with regular taxes and minimum wage (if it were, businesses would've already been doing that instead of independent contracting). It also wouldn't fix the income inequality that created gig work. People would be back to dying of thirst, without a thimble of water.

The real fix is to make it so their main job is hydrating enough, or the thing half the country hates the idea of (public fountains). IRS can't do either. Independent contracting is still a valuable mode of work, when the contractors are paid enough. So rather than ban forms of gig work, we need to provide good paying jobs and social services, and get the rich to pay their fair share.

In the case of Uber it's bring your own thimble too

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