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Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl is still trying to scrape up money to fund the city budget, and he’s still wrong. Pittsburgh should concentrate on its existing activities that generate money rather than on inventing new, illegal taxes.
Ravenstahl’s 2010 budget includes a one percent “post-secondary education privilege tax”, which is a tax on all college and trade school tuition paid in the city. He said that the city is close to coming out from under the supervision of the state’s Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority and that “In order to do this, we need all hands on deck.”
If it passes, Pittsburgh would be the first city in the nation with such a tax. However, City Controller Michael Lamb says that this stunt is probably illegal, too. State law limits the types of taxes that cities can impose on their residents.
The city’s colleges are fighting the tax. Mary Hines, president of Carlow University and chair of the Pittsburgh Council on Higher Education said, "We believe that the proposal is illegal and unenforceable. We don't think it's going to pass, because we believe it is illegal, and if it does pass, we will have to do whatever we need to do to oppose it.”
Ravenstahl defended his tax by saying that the schools charge fees for activities and services, and that students should contest those fees instead of contesting his tax. As the mother of a Pitt student, I can say that’s irrelevant and it’s none of his business. The school fees pay for services that do exist and are available to the students. Most of the 100,000 students who attend city colleges and vocational schools work. And they do pay taxes. And they don’t get their money’s worth.
Last June, Ravenstahl said the same thing about his plan to impose taxes on the city’s nonprofit organizations. He was wrong then and he’s wrong now. Local nonprofits have voluntarily contributed more than $15 million to the city treasury since 2005 through the Pittsburgh Public Service Fund. For some obscure reason, the term “tax-exempt” doesn’t ring a bell with his honor.
As I said before, instead of looking for ways to raise money by violating the law, Ravenstahl should enforce the laws that already exist. That’s what he’s paid for. The mayor is required by law to oversee the operations of all city departments and to ensure that those departments follow all of the city’s laws and regulations. Six city departments consistently fail that task and the city loses money in fees, taxes, and fines because of it.
· Animal Control – issues licenses to all dog owners in the city. How many unlicensed dogs are in your neighborhood?
· Building Inspection – issues building permits and enforces code violations. This city is a mess, and no one is doing anything about it. When was the last time you heard of anyone paying a fine for a code violation? When was the last time you heard of anyone paying for a building permit?
· Finance – collects wage and other taxes from city residents and businesses. How many city residents and businesses get away with paying no tax at all? What is the city doing to find them and collect the taxes?
· Parking Authority – enforces parking regulations. The only place where you can get a parking ticket is in Oakland or South Side. You can park anywhere else in the city without ever worrying about it.
· Public Works – enforces ice and snow removal from sidewalks. No. They don’t. And someone will have to die before they do.
· Water and Sewer Authority – How many city residents and businesses are behind on their bills?
I have yet to see any figures on how much money the city loses every year because the mayor is neglecting his duty. But I’ll bet it’s a bundle. And why hasn’t anyone put those numbers together? City finances have been under ICA authority since 2004 and no one has bothered to find out how much money the city is losing by its own incompetence. Whose bright idea was that?
Surely these departments would generate much more in revenue to the city than it would cost to hire the extra staff necessary to get the job done. If I'm wrong, then put the numbers together and show me.
Ravenstahl says we need all hands on deck, but he’s not even willing to do the job that he was elected to do. Hey. Mr. Mayor. Explain to us all exactly why you think that you don’t have to exhaust every bit of the city’s revenue-generating authority before you run around inventing new, illegal taxes. Go ahead. I dare you.
Comments
I personally has a $43,000 water bill written off by the city because PWSA incompentance.
yeah i feel as though there's always some new "innovative" tax that the city can implement (ahem, drink tax????) but they are still broken on many other fronts. and somehow this guy got re-elected?
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