Angel Taveras, the mayor of Providence, R.I., has made a revolutionary proposal to tax nine tax-exempt colleges and hospitals in her town in an effort to raise funding for the city, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported. The colleges, including Johnson and Wales University, the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence College and Brown University, will pay about one-quarter of the property tax they would owe if they were not exempt. The measure, which would raise about $24 million annually, is the latest in a series of like-minded proposals floated by cities such as Boston and Pittsburgh to help fill in budget gaps.