The money already came from the sale of the medallions. It isn't a yearly fee, which is good, since at 150m taxi rides per year, that would increase the price of each ride by at least $100.
Though medallion sales also aren't worth anything near $15b, anyway -- the 1.2m figure is what medallion sales peaked at. Most sold for significantly less in the past.
Normally very few new medallions come up for auction; the city knows their value is in their scarcity. Though the current budget[1] accounts for some $400m per year from medallion sales, mostly from the continuing rollout of green/boro cabs, which, if coming from the rest of the system instead, would still be a pretty significant fare hike per ride.
they'll probably institute some kind of tax that if you have a medallion you don't have to pay. Since all the Uber data goes through the internet all the transactions can be tracked and taxed.
Though medallion sales also aren't worth anything near $15b, anyway -- the 1.2m figure is what medallion sales peaked at. Most sold for significantly less in the past.
Normally very few new medallions come up for auction; the city knows their value is in their scarcity. Though the current budget[1] accounts for some $400m per year from medallion sales, mostly from the continuing rollout of green/boro cabs, which, if coming from the rest of the system instead, would still be a pretty significant fare hike per ride.
1: http://council.nyc.gov/downloads/pdf/budget/2015/taxi.pdf