Say No to Student Taxes

Pittsburgh Councilman and CEOs for Cities member Bill Peduto fired back at Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's plans to tax the city's college students to fill budget gaps.  While the mayor is looking for new revenue, Councilman Peduto says this is not the place to get it.  Here are his comments released this morning.

Missing the Mark - Taxing Students

Last week, Mayor Ravenstahl announced his 2010 Budget.  The news centered on his plan to create a new tax to require all college/trade school/ theology (?) students to pay 1% of their gross tuition to the city.  There are some serious problems to this idea.  First, it is illegal.  Pennsylvania municipalities do not have the authority to create new taxes - only the state legislature can approve such actions. 

Second, it misses the mark.  If the problem - throughout Pennsylvania, not just Pittsburgh - is that a limited number of older, host municipalities have a limited tax base because of lost revenue from hosting non-profits, then how is that solved by targeting students?  The answer is - it's not. 

Third, it sends the wrong message to those we are trying to lure/keep here to build a New Pittsburgh.  There is something fundamentally wrong with a city that closes its libraries and taxes its students - it is a city that sells its future to pay-off its problems, not solve them.  Fourth, it is a tax on a classification of people.  Not only are we targeting people who are working to better their life (an anti-sin tax?) but we are setting a precedent of taxing people based on their classification. 

Fifth, it is just a really bad idea - you might as well take all of the good will we received during the G20 and flush it down the drain. Last week, I requested that the ICA (The Oversight Board) meet immediately to approve or deny this budget.  The agreement the city signed with the Oversight Board required them to approve a budget BEFORE it is presented to Council.  There is no provision for "conditional-approval."  These are the very same mistakes we made in 2003 - the same actions that created our budget mess.  I have been working hard to find a better way to balance our budget and should have an announcement later this week.

  

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