With the proposed tax on the privilege of attending college within the City limits on hold, Pittsburgh City Council is exploring other ways to increase tax revenues. They are currently floating a proposal to seek part of Allegheny County’s seven percent drink tax because most of it is collected in the City. Despite an earlier court ruling stating that the revenues from the County’s drink tax can only be used for mass transit (Port Authority), City Councilwoman Harris said that since most of the revenue is generated in the City "a portion of that money should come back to the city." Obviously the Councilwoman has no knowledge of Court rulings and has forgotten the fact that a large fraction of the beneficiaries of the Port Authority’s services are City residents. She might even consider that many Allegheny County residents who pay the tax live in areas not served by PAT.
Since desperate times call for desperate measures, we will assist Council and the Mayor and suggest other privileges they can tax. After all, if getting an education is a privilege surely there must be many other privileges that are taxable.
Take for instance consuming alcohol in the City. If the City cannot share in the drink tax money from the County, they could enact their own alcohol consumption privilege tax. This tax could not only cover those bar tabs, but also anyone who drinks alcohol in the City’s jurisdiction. This would effectively cover tailgaters who have been known to have the occasional beer before a game. City tax collectors could walk through the parking lots before games and collect money. Incidentally, this tax may also catch a large number of the college students who escaped the tuition tax.
Since the Mayor wants those who consume City services to pay their fair share, we suggest a fireworks privilege tax. The City has a handful of fireworks displays per year (mostly courtesy of the Pirates) that draw thousands of viewers each time that are consuming City services they should be paying for. This new tax could be collected by having tax agents roaming along Mt. Washington and Point State Park and in boats along the rivers collecting fees for this privilege. The same could be done for Light up Night and any number of parades.
This of course is only the beginning. There could be many other privileges that can be taxed. The City could easily exit its financially distressed status with some imaginative privilege taxation. Of course this will discourage folks from venturing into the City. But isn’t that the notion behind the City’s drive for new revenues-figuring out how to stop those Treasury draining outsiders from bankrupting the City?
