The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports:
The state-picked Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority today unanimously rejected Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl’s budget, saying that the inclusion of $16.2 million he hopes to get from a tuition tax doesn’t comply with state law.
“Existing tax legislation does not yet exist” to support what would be a first-in-the-nation tuition levy, said ICA Chair Barbara McNees.
The rejection puts the process of passing a 2010 budget into uncharted waters. Mr. Ravenstahl said he may ask city council to pass the 1 percent tuition tax despite the ICA’s vote.
Ah yes, why let the law gets in the way of a good tax increase?
POSTSCRIPT: Ravenstahl’s proposal is not only illegal, it is also impressively cynical, even from him. He proposed it just days after he was re-elected, knowing that most current students will have graduated when he next faces re-election in four years.
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