City Controller Calls Plan To Tax Students, Patients Using Pittsburgh Facilities 'Illegal'
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Some call it the student tax and the patient tax. It's a proposal by Pittsburgh City Councilman Ricky Burgess to tax students and patients who use educational or medical services in the city of Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh city controller Michael Lamb calls the tax illegal.
This bill proposed by Burgess would impose a one percent tax on students and patients who use services provided by any higher educational or medical facility in the city of Pittsburgh.
"I don't think it makes sense, and in the case in front of us, I don't think it's legal," Lamb told KDKA political editor Jon Delano on Wednesday.
Lamb says this tax is illegal because the state legislature has never granted the city this taxing power.
"This is basically a sales tax on services that are provided to students and to patients, and clearly the city has no authority to impose a sales tax," he adds.
"I would say it's highly questionable," says Pennsylvania Sen. Devlin Robinson, a Bridgeville Republican and member of the Senate Local Government Committee.
Robinson questions the city's authority to tax and calls discriminatory a provision that allows city residents, but nobody else, to get a tax credit or refund of the one percent tax.
"Who is going to go into the city to seek medical treatment whenever they're going to be taxed and have no relief from those taxes?" he asks.
WATCH: KDKA's Jon Delano reports
Burgess defends the legality of his proposal.
"This was proposed in 1998 and then withdrawn. Part of it was also proposed by former Mayor Luke Ravenstahl with the tuition tax. We think we can [do this]," says Burgess.
Delano: "Why tax the little guy – the patient, the student – instead of taxing these giant institutions that many believe are not paying their fair share?"
Burgess: "We are forbidden by state law. They pay neither property taxes nor the payroll prep tax, so we do not have a vehicle to tax the non-profits."
The council member says the city needs money.
"We have to find new revenue to invest specifically in the bridges and roads and make them safe for our citizens," says Burgess.
Burgess suggests he really doesn't want to tax students and patients, but rather wants to bring the currently untaxed universities and medical institutions to the table to pay their fair share.
"We want to partner with them to create new revenue streams so we can invest in infrastructure," he says.
Whether a student tax or patient tax is the best way to bring the big guys to the table remains to be seen.
KDKA reached out to Mayor Gainey for comment, but none yet. His office says he's still reviewing the proposed bill. City council will take up the proposal next Wednesday.
