Pittsburgh’s Mayor Says He’ll Pursue 1% Higher-Ed Tax (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) (H/T TaxProf Blog)

Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl plans to propose a 1% college-education privilege tax to council today, in a move that’s likely to set off a fight with the city’s schools of higher learning.

College and university representatives met with the mayor on Wednesday and argued against the tax, which 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. …

The tuition tax would raise around $16 million a year.

This is right out of Atlas Shrugged. Tax the producers and those obtaining higher education in order to redistribute that money to moochers. Really Pittsburgh?

How about you encourage producers to obtain a College tuition, so that one day they can perhaps rebuild and revitalize your city? Who is Ben Roethlisberger, err John Galt?