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OR Guy · Posted: Thu Dec 17, 2009 8:23 am Post subject: Pitt Tax

City of Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl wants to institute a 1 percent college tuition tax he says will generate $16.2 million to plug a pension shortfall. Do you support his proposal?

http://www.observer-reporter.com/OR/StoryAP/12-17-2009-Pittsburgh-Tuition
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busdriver · Journeyman Joined: 16 Mar 2009 Posts: 3497

Cylinsier · Master Joined: 29 Sep 2008 Posts: 13229 Location: Oh shi-

Its a complicated question. The answer is I think our students are overcharged for their education in this country. I'm not sure if I consider pension funding to be important enough to warrant this tax on them.
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danno1 · Rookie Joined: 12 Jun 2009 Posts: 3

The city does not need to collect this tax to fund their pension all they need to do is cut the service they provide to the universities and colleges and use that savings to fund the pension shortage.

Brant · Posted: Thu Dec 17, 2009 8:51 am Post subject:

Unfortunatley, the city can't just say that it won't send a police car or a fire truck to the universities. Cities have limited ways in which to raise funds. Students, during their years in college, are availing themselves of or being protected by city services. I'm 100 percent in favor of this tax, and I think Washington, if the tax passes legal muster, should do the very same thing.
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amom · Posted: Thu Dec 17, 2009 9:09 am Post subject:

One facet of a boy scout merit badge bson was working on recently required that he write a letter to the editor of a local paper about a topical community issue in which he was interested. He chose the 1% tax on tuition since he will be attending college in the fall and it most likely will at some time affect him. Not surprisingly, he began by being extremely opposed to the tax. However, the more he read about it, the more supportive he became. The letter he wrote mirrored Brant's thoughts. I, too, agree with both of them.
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busdriver · Journeyman Joined: 16 Mar 2009 Posts: 3497

blackballed · Posted: Thu Dec 17, 2009 10:00 am Post subject:

something has to be done...im in favor of the tax not only for schools but all churches,and non profits..where i live they have a pilot program,payment in lieu of taxes where there is no set rate..it does not work either.BB

busdriver · Journeyman Joined: 16 Mar 2009 Posts: 3497

dick · Journeyman Joined: 28 Jan 2009 Posts: 3134

I am completly against this tax. For the soul purpose of the message it sends to the young people who are the future of the city. Most students aren't going to investigate the rights and wrongs of this tax. They have other studies to focus on. They're just going to see this as a tax on students, period. The perception needs to be that the institutions are being taxed.

There are still a lot of people out there who see college students as privileged, or at worst, from a well off family. From my experience, most students also have to work, from which the city will take the occupational privilege tax. There is a misconception that students do not contribute, hence the tuition tax.
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Cylinsier · Master Joined: 29 Sep 2008 Posts: 13229 Location: Oh shi-

I have to agree with dick on this one to a large extent. Students for the most part already face an unfair burden. Many are lucky to earn grants or scholarships, and others are likely to have the support of their parents; the ones in those groups will survive the tax. But there are a significant number of students who are working part time as they go to school to stay afloat. $150 a year or whatever it said it was may not seem like a lot, but when you are eating ramen to get to the next paycheck, it can hurt. Really, this problem goes all the way up the chain to the government spending too much money on things that are dumb and not enough on keeping education affordable. I'm more against the tuition hike mentioned in this article than the tax. Putting that extra $150 on your college loans adds up to a lot more than that when it comes time to pay it with interest later.
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busdriver · Journeyman Joined: 16 Mar 2009 Posts: 3497

[quote="Cylinsier"]I have to agree with dick on this one to a large extent. Students for the most part already face an unfair

I agree with everyone who knows this is an idiotic scheme to come up with money that someone gave away (or gave themselves) based on wishful thought or hopes a while back,and now expects the money from anyone they can get it from, when those hopes vanished.

busdriver · Journeyman Joined: 16 Mar 2009 Posts: 3497