Ravenstahl's tax on post-secondary schools detailed Monday would raise more than $16.2 million a year. He said his administration targeted students because the city provides services to them, but they don't pay their fair share to the city.

let's hear it for our local Democrats! ain't they great folks!

[applause]

Yeah, what have students ever done for the economy anyway?

This is farking stupid. He doesn't think college students are contributing to the economy!!

Are there any pizza joints in town? Any landlords who rent shiatty apartments? Any bookstores, coffee shops, bars or cheap restaurants?


If so, shut the fark up, Mayor McCheese.

So Crosby is demanding a raise?

"Ravenstahl's tax on post-secondary schools detailed Monday would raise more than $16.2 million a year. He said his administration targeted students because the city provides services to them, but they don't pay their fair share to the city."

Yeah, it's not like they aren't indirectly paying a shiatload of property taxes through their apartment rents. Or providing a bunch of jobs through their spending. Or even funding the police department through all the public intox and minor in possesion tickets...

Creating the tax could spell the end of the Pittsburgh Public Service Fund, voluntary contributions that nonprofit groups including the universities made to the city.

In Massachusetts we say PILOT -- payments in lieu of taxes. Imagine if you could negotiate your tax bill with the city. Universities can. They are legally tax exempt.

MIT voluntarily pays $1.85 million per year to Cambridge. Involuntary taxes on university-owned commercial property, licenses, and other fees add up to around $40 million. The voluntary part happens to be close to 1% of tuition.

ZAZ: MIT voluntarily pays $1.85 million per year to Cambridge.

The also offer free tuition to a number of cambridge residents who get accepted into the university. Most schools do this.

Asinine tag is right.

what_now: This is farking stupid. He doesn't think college students are contributing to the economy!!

Are there any pizza joints in town? Any landlords who rent shiatty apartments? Any bookstores, coffee shops, bars or cheap restaurants?


If so, shut the fark up, Mayor McCheese.

Not to mention that they DO pay property taxes in the form of higher rent for their apartments (assuming they don't live in the dorms).

However, the article is misleading, I think.

The issue, if it's like in my own town, is that the university ITSELF is non-profit, so it doesn't pay property taxes on all the land it has sucked up over the years and taken off the tax rolls.

This pisses the city off. So the city wants to levy a fee on the university to get some equivalent for that money. Very often universities will voluntarily pay a replacement cost (the article hints at one, doesn't it?) but then they argue over how much, should it be sunset, etc.

So now the CMU, etc want to pass that fee onto the students, or the city is trying to make that explicit?

Anyway, the issue of university buildings not being on the tax rolls and the host cities biatching about it is NOTHING new.

ZAZ: In Massachusetts we say PILOT -- payments in lieu of taxes. Imagine if you could negotiate your tax bill with the city. Universities can. They are legally tax exempt.

MIT voluntarily pays $1.85 million per year to Cambridge. Involuntary taxes on university-owned commercial property, licenses, and other fees add up to around $40 million. The voluntary part happens to be close to 1% of tuition.

Exactly this sort of thing.

But every time the university eminent-domains some more property, and tears down a bunch of houses (or worse yet, a string of shops) to build academic buildings, the issue comes up.

I love that the colleges already voluntarily donate millions of dollars to the city, but that's not enough. How about next year they just all not donate to the city, and see how happy they are?

Heh.

Thoguh: Yeah, it's not like they aren't indirectly paying a shiatload of property taxes through their apartment rents. Or providing a bunch of jobs through their spending. Or even funding the police department through all the public intox and minor in possesion tickets...

And I will say that while I kinda understand the city's wanting to get more property-tax replacement payments from the university (or hospitals - SAME issues happen there in towns with a large hospital presence, and we have both! Yay!) there are occasionally separate bouts of whining where long term little property owners start biatching about how "students don't pay their way" endlessly.

That part, I think they're full of it - as others said, students pay as much in property taxes, income taxes, sales taxes, and whatever other types of taxes as any other residents do. If you want to biatch about them being poor for the most part, fine, but that's as far as it goes. They're no different from any other renters in cheap-ass housing.

Meh. An educated population is a greater benefit to the overall society than a few immediate dollars are. They shouldn't be making it more difficult for people to become educated.

Skail: They shouldn't be making it more difficult for people to become educated.

Look at it like this though...they are learning what it's like to give instead of take. It's an education of sorts.

Wow, what a great way to attract educated college graduates to your city. I'm sure that they wouldn't try to leave as soon as they get their diplomas....

Barakku: I love that the colleges already voluntarily donate millions of dollars to the city, but that's not enough. How about next year they just all not donate to the city, and see how happy they are?

How's about they just move Pitt to, say, Newcastle, Duquesne to Erie and Carnegie-Mellon to Sharon? That'll get rid of those free-loaders.

Ahh and watch the students go else where! Get economic thinking there Lou...

Maybe Pittsburgh can bulldoze another black neighborhood and make another hockey arena.

Yes, lets tax the offspring of the evil rich!

People go to college in Pittsburgh? Really? I thought they'd just go to some school outside. I mean what college..good college does Pissburgh have?

Actually, it's still the taxing the evil rich criteria given that many of the people proposing the tax had their tuition paid by their parents.

So, this is what happens when you elect place kickers with business degrees from third rate universities to run cities? Who knew?

LosinMySenses: People go to college in Pittsburgh? Really? I thought they'd just go to some school outside. I mean what college..good college does Pissburgh have?

Carnegie Mellon. Sixth best engineering school in the country. University of Pittsburgh isn't too shabby, either.

Where'd you go?

Cool. When the teabaggers show up, the students can correct their signs.

Huskadoodle: Actually, it's still the taxing the evil rich criteria given that many of the people proposing the tax had their tuition paid by their parents.

They did? I only skimmed the article, but where did it say that?

I hate this. When I was at University, we paid for police, fire and other TOWN services in our tuition, plus an outrageous amount in property tax (NH, no sales tax, no income tax, TONS of property tax)to the same town. I paid more, much more, then most non students in town. Yet we were the tax drain.

Damn. Does anyone here actually agree with this insanity?

LosinMySenses: People go to college in Pittsburgh? Really? I thought they'd just go to some school outside. I mean what college..good college does Pissburgh have?

Lol. You best be trollin brah.

kinda like I'm an AmeriCorps volunteer and they screw us?

Consider the following: I get a living stipend (not counted as income), and I am not eligible for unemployment. HOWEVER, the federal government taxes my stipend as income.

They also pay the interest on my student loan and give me an education award - but then turn around and tax that as income too!!


The feds give with one hand and take away with the other. Its ridiculous. Taxing college students is just as idiotic. Give em a break



/threadjack over

The_Sponge: Damn. Does anyone here actually agree with this insanity?

of course not. But that's Pennsylvania politics for you - philly and pittsburgh are lock solid old skool democrat machine style politics. common sense or fairness don't really apply in that kind of situation.

Also, town residents always complained about how expensive their property was and that we were ruining it. WHY DO YOU THINK YOUR LAND IN THE COLLEGE TOWN WAS TWICE AS HIGH AS ANYWHERE ELSE RETARD....BECAUSE OF THE UNIVERSITY!!!!

"I'd like to know where the money is going. Is it going for somebody to take a trip to a fancy hotel for a meeting? I don't see why my money working on summer jobs should go for that."

THIS and then some. Fix the streets and fuel up the fire trucks. After that, if you want more money Mr. Mayor, hold a bake sale.

My niece is going to France for her college education. It's costing her parents 1/20th of a college education here in America.

D3_WR: The feds give with one hand and take away with the other. Its ridiculous. Taxing college students is just as idiotic. Give em a break
/threadjack over

it gets even worse - if I go back to school to keep my skill set current, education benefits from my company (past a certain point) are counted as income, and thus fully taxable.

so here we are as a nation...we need an educated work force, but the tax laws are set up in such a way as to make education expensive and largely out of reach of the very workforce we need to keep our economy afloat.

Mentat: Yeah, what have students ever done for the economy anyway?

They should tax children too. Little farkers constantly using resources--buses, teachers, etc. Let them pay their own damn way now. Children never helped nobody nohow.

LosinMySenses: People go to college in Pittsburgh? Really? I thought they'd just go to some school outside. I mean what college..good college does Pissburgh have?

The 2010 edition, of the U.S. News & World Report ranks Carnegie Mellon's in Computer Science 4th,
Engineering 6th,
Business 15th,
Public Policy 10th,
Fine Arts 7th,
Psychology 17th.

Coelacanth: My niece is going to France for her college education. It's costing her parents 1/20th of a college education here in America.

And all she had to do was get VD from Jacques.



(Sacrebleu!)

What a farking dipshiat. No, college don't buy tons of booze, pizza, hamburgers, fast food.

Can some college student nut punch this prick?

Ooh, here's a great idea, legalize pot and put a 15% tax on it. ZOMG PEOPLE WILL BE POTHEADS WE'RE ALL GOING TO HELL THOSE FREAKING HEATHENS, ZOMG JESUS'S DINOSAUR IS EATING MY LEGZ AWWWWWMMMYYYYYYGOOOOOOOODDDDDDD!!!

Fark needs a Cockpunch tag.

lefande: "I'd like to know where the money is going. Is it going for somebody to take a trip to a fancy hotel for a meeting? I don't see why my money working on summer jobs should go for that."

THIS and then some. Fix the streets and fuel up the fire trucks. After that, if you want more money Mr. Mayor, hold a bake sale.

I doubt that student is paying for Carnegie Mellon via a summer job. If so, I think a career change may be in order for myself.

So, they plan on taxing their assets? How are they going to convert partially full Mr. Noodles packets into cash?

palelizard: lefande: "I'd like to know where the money is going. Is it going for somebody to take a trip to a fancy hotel for a meeting? I don't see why my money working on summer jobs should go for that."

THIS and then some. Fix the streets and fuel up the fire trucks. After that, if you want more money Mr. Mayor, hold a bake sale.

I doubt that student is paying for Carnegie Mellon via a summer job. If so, I think a career change may be in order for myself.

I've got a job right under my desk that starts at $100/hour. Positions available immediately. Apply within.

Churches seen whistling in the corner.

taxation without representation

Doctor Funkenstein: Cool. When the teabaggers show up, the students can correct their signs.

no we can't - we're engineering students and of course I speak only for me (and I spell decently) but fark Pissburh...

/Carnegie Mellon '89

But... but... how can the city afford teh pork? No new taxes. No new pork.

I hate Pittsburgh, so I'm getting a kick out of these replies.

Heh, just pile it on top of the rest of their loans. They won't even notice. It's not like the loans will be payed back quicker than 10-20 years in the end. What's another 12 months?

What are you farkers complaining about?

This tax is being applied to the rich!

I know that college students may not be what you consider 'rich', but it good enough for the government.