Even more students at Brown University and three other Providence, R.I., colleges are going to be living on mac-and-cheese dinners if Mayor David N. Cicilline gets what he wants.
The mayor is seeking to levy a $300-a-year flat tax on students, who he says are a drain on the city’s resources. The four local universities — Brown, Providence College, Johnson & Wales, and the Rhode Island School of Design — own property valued at more than $1.7 billion, but are tax-exempt, notes the Providence Journal. Beer, it should be noted, is still taxed.
Mayor Cicilline sees the student tax as a way to help the city pay down its $17 million deficit. That deficit is predicted to rise to a whopping $50 million during the next fiscal year. A tax of $300 per student would raise between $6 million and $8 million … assuming they all pay it, which is never a sure bet with college kids.
The students and a majority of administrators at the universities object to the plan, naturally. They argue that the extra charge is unwarranted, unaffordable, and perhaps unconstitutional.
Besides, said Heather Lee, president of the Brown Graduate Student Council, out-of-town students who don’t pay local taxes contribute to the city in other ways. "We're more able to provide labor, we're more able to apply the things that we're learning in the classroom, than we are to write a $300 check,” Lee said. Dont believe it? You've clearly never called college hunks hauling junk.
Additionally, many students say that the “student municipal impact fee,” as the administration at Providence College is now calling it, would overlook their volunteer work and financial support of local restaurants, stores, and bars. Many students are already involved in tutoring and mentoring programs at local public grade schools.
Tuition at Brown already costs nearly $40,000 a year, with about 40 percent of undergraduates receiving financial aid. Eighty-five percent of Johnson & Wales University’s 10,000 students receive aid, spokeswoman Lisa Pelosi said.
Even so, Mayor Cicilline attempted during his meeting with students in City Hall on April 24 to appeal to their “moral obligation” to help the city during its time of need. "It's really about a shared commitment to the well-being of your community that you're a part of," the mayor said. The City Council backed the mayor wholeheartedly.
Students and school administrators, however, still weren’t convinced, arguing that an increase in costs could damage student recruitment. “Three hundred dollars can be the difference between coming to Providence and going somewhere else,” Pelosi said, perhaps overstating her case. New England winters are a more likely culprit.
The four schools generate more than $1 billion a year in economic activity and employ almost 9,000 people, said Daniel Egan, president of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Rhode Island. And despite efforts by the Providence spin room to convince people otherwise, all of these folks pay state income taxes on their earnings - earnings which would not exist if the schools didn't operate in the area. Meanwhile, Providence officials are busy spending hard earned tax money on other important things, like a new city logo - a big "P" for $100,000.
Many university administrators say that the proposed tax may be unconstitutional. Students who rent or whose families own property in the city are already paying municipal taxes, so a tax “just for being there” would amount to double taxation.
In addition to students’ claims to non-tax contributions, the four educational institutions also reminded Cicilline of an agreement made back in 2003 between the two groups’ administrations in which the consortium of colleges promised almost $50 million in cash payments to the city over the next 20 years.
“They say they are paying their fair share, but it’s not fair,” said City Council President Peter S. Mancini. “We were really happy to get anything from them then.”
The idea of taxing students just for being students has undoubtedly surfaced in other cities, but proposals have never been passed; if the city of Providence gets what it wants, it will be the first in the country to do so.
College tax: think of it like yearly dues for a pricey country club
What the Gov?
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