"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..."That's right, Pittsburgh is seriously considering taxing students for going to college. As absurd as this sounds, it may be catching on in other places around the country. College students are notoriously bad at getting involved in local politics and many aren't even registered to vote where they go to school - I went to college in Utah and maintained my voter registration in Oregon the whole time. So if you have to tax someone in a recession, why not go after a large group of people that don't vote?
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Getting Taxed for Going to School
I don't go to grad school in Pittsburgh, PA and it turns out that is a really good thing. From the New York Times:
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My favorite crazy school funding thing is still this: http://bit.ly/6Plfn4. The idea that students in expensive programs should pay more tuition and those in cheap programs should pay less.
ReplyDeleteBut a tax. That's interesting.
"So if you have to tax someone in a recession, why not go after a large group of people that don't vote?"
That is too funny. Yet another reason to vote.
Kind of like the Washington DC license plates that say, "Taxation without Representation", but I think in this case the non-representation is out of choice.
ReplyDeleteWell, in my case as an undergrad I was far more connected to Oregon than Utah, so it made sense for me to vote in Oregon. I didn't care about the city council nearly in Provo, UT as much as I cared about the council in Keizer, OR.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, maybe student will start to care a little more about local issues where they are attending college if they have to pay extra taxes. Nothing spurs political involvement like taking somebody taking your money.
I did put an other comment about climate.
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