Because it's home

I remember one of my friends in college posing a question in our final year: "Why do people continue to stay in Kashmir despite there being such a danger to their lives?" And another one of my friends, without even a blink of an eye, shot back: "Because it's home."

We recently had this discussion about university towns in the U.S. Educational institutions don't have to pay taxes, so it's the others in the town, in many cases people with absolutely no connection to the university, who shoulder the burden.

So the city needs money to provide protection for the people, it needs to ensure a good police network, drainage facilities, community parks, pools etc but ends up taking those funds (and more) from the same people. A university or school, which charges its students, are considered non-profit organisations that cannot be taxed.

Is this fair? Can universities and schools make people pay a larger tax than they would in another town? Some of my friends didn't have much sympathy for these people. "They knew the situation always," went the common refrain. "And it's not as if the educational institutions began as a secret. So they always had the option of moving out. And for those who are new, there is really no excuse at all."

I somehow disagreed. Firstly I thought it unfair to expect people to move out just because an educational institution is being built in their town. Those residents were here first. And it's their home. So to expect people to move out of their home just because you want to run a million-dollar "non-profit" organization isn't fair. They've no doubt developed an emotional attachment to the place - the smells, the sounds - and it's silly even expecting them to go away.

I wasn't as convinced about those wanting to move in. Maybe they could have factored in the extra property taxes they would pay and chosen some other place. Maybe they really don't have a reason to complain. But again, once someone's decided on making a place home, there's little that can dissuade them.