Tuition tax battle lines began to emerge on Pittsburgh City Council today, as Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's Philadelphia legal gun laid out the case for the levy and encountered a conflicted council.

"How can we carve out post-secondary education, and make it a special class, and tax it?" Councilman Patrick Dowd asked Joseph C. Bright, former chief counsel to the state Department of Revenue, brought in by the administration to add heft to its argument that a 1 percent levy on tuition is legal.

"When you tax post-secondary education, you are taxing something that is extra, that is beyond the basic requirement," said Mr. Bright. "Is college essential in an economic sense? ... Not in the same sense" as education through high school.

Mr. Bright said the city is "going to win" a likely court fight over the tax, since state law gives municipalities broad power to tax "privileges," and nowhere excludes higher education. He said a tuition tax isn't a sales tax -- state legislation is needed to levy those -- nor is it preempted by a statutory ban on taxing admissions fees charged by nonprofit organizations.

"Tuition is not an admission fee, plain and simple," said Mr. Bright.

Some on council were sympathetic.

"Property that was [previously] taxed was bought up by nonprofits, so that they could increase and be larger and larger," said Councilwoman Darlene Harris. Now there is no tax revenue from those properties. "Our residents are just struggling. I know I get complaints all the time that this isn't fixed and that isn't fixed. They're looking at the buildings that we have, and we can't [fix] it" because the city lacks money.

Mr. Bright's $650-an-hour bill could face council skepticism, since no contract for his services has yet been submitted to council. The administration fought hard in 2008 against having four council members' legal bills paid when they challenged a Lamar Advertising electronic billboard, and though the bill was eventually split between the city and the members, bitterness remains.

Asked why Mr. Bright was retained without council approval, Deputy Solicitor Ron Pferdehirt said the need for extra legal help "was an emergency" because "people were not satisfied with the Law Department's opinion" on the tax's legality.

"Oh, really?" Council President Doug Shields replied. "I didn't know. Nobody told me it was an emergency."

Council took no vote on the tuition tax today, pending a special meeting at 1:30 p.m. Friday and a public hearing on 10 a.m. Nov. 30.

More details in tomorrow's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

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