When I was an undergraduate and graduate student, money was tight.  Paying tuition, buying books, and other related expenses can take their toll financially.  That's why I  became angry when I found out that David Cicilline is attempting to hit students at Brown University, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence College, and Johnson and Wales University with a $300 tax.  If approved, the tax would raise $6 million per year more that the Mayor can squander on branding the "Creative Capital", or paying auditors to investigate his crooked brother's bounced check.

     If Providence is allowed to tax students, it would be the only city in the United States to charge such a tax.  Despite receiving more than $2.4 million annually from the colleges, they have a huge economic impact on the City.  This is probably one of the reasons why Cicilline was reluctant to release his budget last week.  He knows it's filled with unpopular schemes to separate residents from their money, and he's putting off the criticism.

     Rather than stay up at night thinking of ways to tax us into oblivion, he should use his time to find ways to actually cut the budget.  He would probably say there aren't many places to cut, and if he did, he would be lying.  After all, he raised taxes last year, yet miraculously, he was able to make cuts in the current fiscal year once state aid was cut.  The problem isn't that there aren't places to cut, the problem is that David Cicilline doesn't want to make the cuts.

     I'm hoping students at Brown, RISD, JWU, and PC make sure their voices are heard.  They pay enough in tuition and fees.  They don't need the David Cicilline making it harder for them to receive their degree.