Two Chicago political experts on CBS News Chicago's "The Angle" said the tax proposals in Mayor Brandon Johnson's budget plan are more regressive than the mayor claims.
Former Chicago Public Schools chief executive officer and 2023 Chicago mayoral race finalist Paul Vallas and former Ald. Leslie Hairston (5th) sat down with Political Reporter Chris Tye last week for "The Angle," which aired Sunday, Oct. 25.
This past Wednesday, Mayor Johnson rolled out his $17.6 billion budget proposal. His plan would charge companies with 125 or more full-time employees $25 per worker per month.
Johnson argues the principle is that large corporations should contribute more. But critics say the head tax proposal would hurt job growth and discourage companies from coming to Chicago.
Johnson proposed a $21-per-employee monthly head tax on companies with more than 100 employees as part of his 2026 budget proposal last year, and later revised it to a $33-per-employee monthly head tax on companies with more than 500 employees. The City Council voted it down, and the mayor's opponents passed an alternate budget plan over his objections.
Some alders say the proposal won't pass this year either.
Vallas said in terms of politics, Johnson is trying to get into the runoff for the 2027 mayoral election, and while the narrative that he is trying to get large corporations and billionaires to pay their fair share might help him with his base in the runoff, it would not in the general election.
"What he's really doing is he wants it out there because wants to claim, 'Look, I'm fighting the big corporations,'" Vallas said.
Hairston said the businesses affected by the tax would not be limited to big corporations.
"They're your ma and pa, just like the building owners, the landlords, are your ma and pa operations," Hairston said. "But by classifying them as the millionaires and the billionaires, you're fooling the people, because it's actually on their backs."
The mayor also plans to increase personal property lease taxes, the tax on cloud computing companies including Microsoft and Amazon to 20%. The tax rose to 15% last budget cycle.
Vallas said that tax hike ends up being regressive too.
"It's already the highest in the nation. And that impacts everyone, so that means anytime you use computer services, your platforms, your databases, you're going to pay 20%. You're going to pay 20% on the cost for you individually," he said. "So that's not millionaires."
Johnson also proposed a 15-cent packaging waste tax that would expand the city's existing retail bag tax to include all forms of packaging for carry-out or delivery, bringing in an estimated $9 million.
He also wants sports betting companies to pay a 20% tax, up from 10.25% to bring in $37 million, although the city's sports betting tax is facing a court challenge, with opponents arguing only the state of Illinois is authorized to impose such a tax.
The City Council Budget Committee will hold a series of meetings over the next three weeks to allow alders to question each city department about the mayor's budget plan. The City Council has until the end of the year to pass a 2027 spending plan.
