A Student Tax in Pittsburgh

One of the many problems with the growth in the non-profit sector is that if it keeps growing, pretty soon there will be hardly anyone left to pay taxes. That is the situation confronting Pittsburgh, where, the Wall Street Journal reports, about 40% of the property in the city is tax-exempt. As a result the city is considering what the Journal describes as "what appears to be a one-of-a-kind 1% tuition tax on local university and college students." If implemented it would be one of a kind, but Pittsburgh is not the only city to float such an idea; Providence, R.I. also explored a $300 a year tax on out-of-state students.