sourced 9-6-9
I read today that the mayor of Providence RI wants to institute a head
tax on students to the order of 300 dollars a year. The stated
assumption is that students do not pay their fare share toward the
government services that they consume. I will use municipalities common
revenue sources in my argument.
All renters pay property tax as part of their rent. True not an extra fee, but as a cost of doing
business, landlords include property taxes as one of there inputs. ie
Buyers of bread indirectly pay for the wheat to the farmers. Colleges
do not pay property taxes, but some, Brown included, pay cities funds
in lieu of taxes. On campus students indirectly already contribute to
those payments. Cities also like to point out that College land is
tax exempt. Is it safe to assume adjacent commercial ad residential
property would be valued as high if the college wasn't there? Payroll
taxes are paid by the many students that work. Sales tax is paid by
student purchases.
The average citizen pays for city services in the exact same way.
College aged citizens pay about the same in this way as do the
students. The use tax idea falls flat to me. It looks much more like
a discriminatory tax toward a class that may not be registered to vote
in the city, that may not be able to speak out in a ongoing basis. It
may also be a Town & Gown war, where the "poor" townies want to
extract as much cash from the "Rich" students. An unlikely worst
case scenario students choose to learn in cities that value their
presence. Enrollment drops, Instructors are laid off, move. Schools
have moved localities as well. I would think P,RI is a big enough boy
to not be threatened by they student body that is no different in
fundamentals than the year round residents. I live in Lexington, KY.
Here we have a massive student body. If something like this would
ever be raised here, I will counter my surprise with much more
examples than in this small blog.--
-RK
Kevin ... K3vin ... Ke7in
http://twitter.com/ke7in
"Honest differences of opinion should never be permitted to destroy a
friendship" - Chaim Potok, The Chosen
