Johnson cuts property tax hike in half with latest budget proposal
CHICAGO - Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has come back with a new plan to balance the city budget after his proposal for a $300 million property tax hike was unanimously rejected.
The mayor had no choice but to scrap that original plan, and he announced on Tuesday he's whittled that proposed property tax increase down to $150 million, which would be the equivalent to about $240 per year on a half-million-dollar home.
The mayor says the latest proposal is the product of weekend negotiations with alderpeople after his original plan fell flat.
"I believe that the mistake would be if we didn't have a collaborative approach that allowed for multiple voices to weigh in," Johnson said. "You don't have just city council, but folks in labor and government, that is how open this process has been."
Instead of $300 million in new property taxes, the mayor wants a $128 million hike in the personal property replacement tax on cloud computing—essentially a business tax on cloud computing companies. Also, a $10 million tax hike on streaming services like Netflix, which leaves a property tax hike of $150 million.
But the new plan does not seem to be winning over many city council members.
"I don't know what planet you live on where you have a budget like this and you can't make cuts or find efficiencies like we do every year," said 32nd Ward Alderman and frequent critic Scott Waguespack. "You can't run a government by just increasing revenue and increasing property taxes on people and wishing the rest away."
Waguespack says the mayor hasn't been inclusive of everyone's ideas. Johnson dismissed complaints like that.
"Some people are just having tantrums right now," Johnson said. "It's time for people to grow up."
Recent critic, 40th Ward Alderman Andre Vasquez, was unimpressed.
"If you're the collaborator in chief, you don't tell people they're having tantrums," Vasquez said. "You don't tell people to grow up. Nothing about that feels collaborative, does it?"
The mayor acknowledged the plan is likely still a work in progress as some colleagues hope to eliminate the need for a property tax hike altogether.
"As long as we have an open line of communication, we have a responsibility to get to an agreement," said city council ally and 25th Ward Alderman Byron Sigcho-Lopez.
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