The Allegheny County Conference on Community Development, which represents most of the region's top businesses and large tax-exempt institutions, today called Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's proposed 1 percent tuition tax "bad public policy" in a statement released hours before a key meeting on the topic.

The conference statement called the tax "a simplistic solution" to the city's chronic pension fund shortfall. The conference has pushed for state legislation changing the way pensions are funded, and the statement said that the tuition tax debate will "divert all of us" from that effort.

The statement goes on to say that the tax would present Pittsburgh as "not welcoming to students," would double-dips into the pockets of profit-making schools that already pay other taxes, hurt the economy, and face legal challenges.

City council is set to discuss the tax at a 2 p.m. public meeting today, and could vote on it Wednesday. Mr. Ravenstahl has said that if universities don't pledge to raise $5 million-a-year in donations to the city, he will press for a vote.

A student protest set for this morning attracted a handful of student leaders.

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