Here's an idea: Let's Tax College Tuition!

The mayor of Pittsburgh calls it the “Fair Share Tax.” But to officials at the city’s 10 colleges and universities and many of their 100,000 students, it is anything but. Mayor Luke Ravenstahl said the universities rejected his request to pay $5 million a year to the city, and that he had no other option.

On Wednesday, the City Council is expected to give preliminary approval to Mayor Luke Ravenstahl’s proposal for a 1 percent tuition tax on students attending college in Pittsburgh, which he says will raise $16.2 million in annual revenue that is needed to pay pensions for retired city employees. Final Council action will be on Monday.

The tax would be the first of its kind in the nation, and other cities are watching closely as they try to find ways to close their own budget gaps.

In case you thought college tuition bills were getting far too affordable for the average family, the Pittsburgh government has a solution. Let's spread the wealth! THE FAIR SHARE TAX!

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I wonder who will pay the tax for the kids who pay nothing.

That's fuckin' bullshit crap!

Yup, and hopefully people are tired of these A'Holes screwing the poor working person into the ground and people start really exercising their power to control their own lives and start tossing these 'Idjuts' out of office.

What's going to happen is that enrollment in Pittsburgh colleges is going to decline.

Are there any colleges in Pittsburgh that are SO enticing that a prospective student would want to pay an extra $400 per year more than for a college elsewhere?

Most college Students are not local residents so have absolutely no say in local politics at all. I would suggest that any college being taxed have their students register to vote in that city and vote those fools out of office.

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl said the universities rejected his request to pay $5 million a year to the city, and that he had no other option.

Why not cut city public services to the University System to reduce costs by $5 million?




I'm certain that U of Pittsburg students would be happy to walk through unlighted, unpoliced, unplowed streets to get to school rather than pay an extra 1% City Tax. No doubt that intelligent and socially conscious university students would soon organize themselves into carpools, snow-removal work gangs, and security patrols.

What's going to happen is that enrollment in Pittsburgh colleges is going to decline.

Are there any colleges in Pittsburgh that are SO enticing that a prospective student would want to pay an extra $400 per year more than for a college elsewhere?

Electricity is a commodity; the schools pay for it.
Have you ever heard of "Campus Police"?
If it is a public street the maintenance is already covered by property tax and university property is generally high end (unless they get a property tax exemption)- unless it is completely on university land, then the university pays for construction and maintenance.

So, you're saying that NO city services in Pittsburg support the University of Pittsburg?

Certainly you're not so opaque.

While the campus has its own police force, and pays for its own electricity and plows its own streets, the CITY pays for all these services in the area surrounding the campus.

Unless all the students live on campus, they utilize city services to get to and from the campus: Busses, streets, street lights, maintainance, police, etc.

Of so the city should stop doing their jobs around the campus cause the campus won't knuckle to threats and blackmail? Why exactly should the people paying those taxes in those neighborhoods continue to pay taxes if the city stops services?