by Joeb in City Finances, Government Reform, Schools and Youth, Traffic & Parking, Tufts, Workers' Rights
Posted on November 19, 2009 at 10:01 pm
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Today’s Inside Higher Education reports that the Mayor of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has proposed a 1% sales tax on private higher ed tuition. In Pittsburgh they plan to use the funds to cover health care costs and a shortfall in the library budget, but they have 10 different institutions, whose tuitions range widely.
We have one, and their tuition is currently $38,840 to the undergraduates, who, today, number 5,044. A rough rule of thumb suggests that – just on undergraduates, only 10 or so of whom come from Somerville – this represents at least $1,959,089.60 “on the table” for the City of Somerville, should people press that Pittsburgh precedent.
What that actually represents is something like our current parking tax increase.
Or it actually represents the shortfall in school budgets, and free, universal kindergarten (which, by odd coincidence, is one of those specialties at Tufts that has recently excluded the children of their own maintenance staff).
Or it represents how Tufts students never vote locally, and thus sacrifice the chance to effect their own costs and rights.
Or it could represent a real opportunity to specify how much and where and when Tufts does contribute already to the city’s strength and viability.
Which of those options best fits YOUR needs? Thanks Pittsburgh for the chance to look at ourselves in a new and fresh light.
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Well that’s an interesting idea! I’m not sure whether current law allows MA municipalities to levy new sales taxes without an act by the state legislature, like the recently approved local meals and hotel taxes. Collecting property taxes from Tufts might be more realistic and maybe even more lucrative. Whatever happened to the transfer tax you’ve mentioned previously that could help subsidize affordable housing?
I think Somerville could benefit greatly from increased regionalization to share the cost of common programs. This is something Mayor Curtatone has called for, too.
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There are state as well as constitutional issues involved in any mitigation of postsecondary tax free status (re: Dartmouth College case), but there are all sorts of vehicles to recoup costs incurred by municipal hosts of institutions offering housing and non-academic services to their students/guests/patients. Cambridge charges a differential water rate; many municipalities charge differential police and fire rates; many charge access fees for other services. The prospect of charging non-residents or other agencies for regionalized services is much more improbable, no matter what the Mayor might wish, since both precedent and constitutional issues would prevail. If you can afford to serve your residents, you can afford to serve others – it would be like charging other cities for police services if we arrest their residents.
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