Pittsburgh Mayor Wants to Tax College Tuition

As the parent of a high-school junior, it's hard not to be concerned with the rising cost of a good college education. Now, as if higher learning doesn't already cost enough, Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl is proposing a 1 percent tax on college tuition, hoping to raise about $16 million a year, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, to close a shortfall in the city's pension fund and help aid the struggling Carnegie Library system. This proposed college education "privilege tax" would be paid on tuition only by students who attend post-secondary schools in the city, including colleges, universities, art, business and culinary schools.

All ten schools represented by the Pittsburgh Council on Higher Education have joined together to oppose the major's plan, including Carlow, Carnegie Mellon, Chatham, Duquesne and the University of Pittsburgh. In the words of Charles J. Dougherty, president of Duquesne University, "The Mayor's proposal places the burden of balancing the City budget on the backs of college students. This will weaken Pittsburgh's credibility as a progressive place to live and work, further hindering community and economic development efforts."

"The quickest way to ruin Pittsburgh's emerging reputation as a college town is to become the first city in the nation to tax its students," said Don Francis, president of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Pennsylvania.

Like many other cities, Pittsburgh is concerned with the impact of tax-exempt institutions such as colleges and hospitals on city services. But is taxing college tuition really the answer to this concern? It would be ironic indeed, if we end up being taxed on the money we have saved up in our tax-exempt Pennsylvania 529 plans to pay for our childrens' educations.