Chicago business leaders oppose new taxes in Mayor Johnson’s budget proposal

CHICAGO (WGN) – The Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce said Mayor Brandon Johnson’s budget proposal will make Chicago a less attractive investment as they don’t see shared sacrifice in his tax proposals.

Jack Lavin, president and CEO of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, said many businesses have not shaken the setbacks from the pandemic, adding that the mayor’s suggestions will not help.

“Our view is we need to have pro-growth strategies, not job killing taxes,” Lavin said. “Especially our restaurants and our hospitality industry…their margins are 2%, and so now you’re asking them to pay a tax for every person they hire in their restaurant or in their hospitality business. I mean, you’re adding to their cost burden on low margin industry.”

In order to close a $1.19 billion shortfall in next year’s budget, the mayor wants to lean o the wealthy, arguing many are not paying their fair share.

“Our budget proposal asks large corporations and the ultra-wealthy to chip in more so that working families are not burdened with higher property taxes or grocery taxes or garbage fees,” Johnson said.

The mayor also emphasized he won’t be rising property taxes, but his proposal does include a string of new taxes. Two in particular are raising eyebrows in the business community.

One is the revival of a corporate head tax where companies in Chicago with more than 100 employees would pay $21 per person each month.

Former Mayor Rahm Emanuel eliminated that tax after a run of over 40 years.

This time around, Johnson wants to put the estimated $100 million in revenue toward anti-violence programs. He argues a safer city will be more attractive to both businesses and their employees.

The proposal is an increase to taxes on cloud computing.

According to Levin, consumers could end up paying the cost.

“Every company of every size and sector will pay that. Not big tech. It will be paid by the end user and so that is another job killing tax, and it would be the highest tax in the nation for our businesses, and you’re a small business. You’re using the software to manage your accounting, to manage your customer relations because you can’t hire a lot of staff,” he said.

However, not everyone is against the mayor’s budget plan. Johnson, a former teacher and Chicago Teachers Union organizer himself, wants to give half a billion dollars in TIF surplus funds to Chicago Public Schools.

The CTU issued the following statement.

“Today, Mayor Brandon Johnson delivered the most transformative budget to come out of City Hall in generations. He is protecting our city from Trump’s cuts and proposing a budget that fights for working people instead of against them.”

Johnson’s team said they’ve found more than $200 million in savings across city departments. They also want to extend a citywide hiring freeze and cap overtime for Chicago police officers.

Still, Lavin said it’s hard to see shared sacrifice when the city budget has increased by more than $6 billion in recent years.