"Cicilline bills would tax colleges and nonprofit institutions
01:00 AM EDT on Thursday, May 21, 2009
PROVIDENCE — Mayor David N. Cicilline, whose city faces a revenue shortfall approaching $50 million for the fiscal year starting July 1, unveiled two bills Wednesday that would allow municipalities to tax universities and hospitals.
One is the mayor’s much-discussed “student-impact fee,” which would assess private colleges a flat fee of $150 per semester for each full-time student who is from out of state.
The other would allow cities and towns to collect from large nonprofit institutions, such as major colleges and universities and hospitals, up to 25 percent of what the taxes would be on their tax-exempt properties.
The bill would affect nonprofit institutions that own property valued at $20 million or greater; the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence would be exempt, according to Cicilline. .."
In my view this is just another short term fix for a structural long term problem. The lack of imagination and courage is the hall mark of the legislature. I personally think Cicilline's TAX on students is stupid and in the long run will be more expensive than than what it will generate in tax revenue (law suits and delays implementation), I must, however, congratulate him on stirring up the pot and showing the world just how bad things are here.
Our "lively experiment" has run its course economically. It is time for a new Green House Compact Summit.
Our business model, as a state, is built on the haydays of manufacturing and the labor movement with cheap labor and water power. Today this is no longer the reality.
Our defense industries were build on the WWII and the Cold War need for (submarines and ship building). These have changed to meet new conditions that require higher levels of skills and not just brut labor and craftmanship.
Our fishing industry was built on the abundance of fish stocks -- today they aren't there. Environmental and susrtainability issues are drawing in the net that fishermen find themselves in.
We need this debate, but we need to also move beyond it to find a new business model for the state built upon our true strengths and cutting our loses now, no matter how painful. It is only fair to the next generation.
The current adult generation(s) created this problem. Let's take responsibility and clean it up. It is in all our interests.
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