Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl has proposed a 1 percent college-education privilege tax. The tax would be assessed on a college student’s tuition. It technically would not be a levy on the students or their schools, but rather on the privilege of getting a higher education in Pittsburgh.

Mr. Ravenstahl has proposed the tax as a measure to reduce a $15 million gap in the city’s 2010 budget and to help the struggling Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.

“We don’t believe that [1 percent] is too burdensome on college students,” Mr. Ravenstahl said. “The city taxpayers are paying for the services that are provided to those college students,” including police, building inspection and fire service, he said. “The students have a role to play.”

Currently tertiary education institutions in Pittsburgh are tax-exempt.

The tuition tax would raise around $16 million a year. Of that, $15 million would cover increased payments to the city’s limping pension fund and capital needs. The balance would become a dedicated, annual payment to the Carnegie Library system, which faces a budget deficit that has prompted plans to close four city libraries, merge two others, and move yet another.

The director of the Pittsburgh Council on Higher Education, which represents the local colleges, could not be reached for comment last week. The University of Pittsburgh has said repeatedly that it will fight any effort to chip away at its tax-exempt status.

Mr. Ravenstahl said he anticipates court, legislative and public relations assaults on his proposal, but he’s ready. “When you look at some of the fees these places charge,” he said, citing charges for everything from athletic facility use to orientation to security, “we think it’s only fair to include a fee for the city.”

By Rich Lord at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette