Enough? Chicago aldermen to vote on mayor’s property tax hike

Mayor Brandon Johnson broke a campaign promise by proposing a $300 million property tax increase to fund his $17.3 billion budget. On Thursday the city council will vote, and the signs are not good for Johnson.

Mayor Brandon Johnson on Thursday will face the Chicago City Council and see if they will let him break his campaign promise by imposing a $300 million property tax increase to fund a $17.3 billion budget next fiscal year.

If Johnson’s plan passes, Chicagoans should expect an average property tax hike of over 4%. The actual increase could vary considerably depending on new county assessments, appeals and added levies from other local taxing bodies.

Chicagoans are facing this after property taxes have already nearly doubled in the past decade for the city. They live in a state with the second-highest property tax burden in the nation. As a result, Chicago is losing thousands of residents and aldermen seem to be aware of the exodus and wary of how the mayor’s spending spree will aggravate it.

The proposed tax increase is facing strong resistance in the city council, with some members saying Johnson’s budget is “dead on arrival.” Ald. Anthony Beale, Ward 9, told the Chicago Sun-Times, “This is our moment. This is the city council’s moment to step up and take our government back and run the city like it’s supposed to be run, with a strong council, weak mayor.”

Even core Johnson supporters, such as Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez, oppose the mayor’s push for higher property taxes, arguing it would impose a regressive tax on residents. The Civic Federation also voiced concerns, stating property tax increases should be a last resort, only considered after exploring all other options.

Discontent with the mayor is increasing as Chicagoans grow wary of his tax-heavy approach without clear, meaningful spending plans. This isn’t the first Johnson tax hike Chicago has shut down. Residents rejected his push to increase the real estate transfer tax earlier this year. Many of those who turned against the measure were the same people who voted for him in the mayoral election just a year before. It’s difficult to see how Johnson will be able to push for additional taxes as his approval rating has plummeted to a historic low of 14% – the lowest on record for any Chicago mayor in history.

Higher taxes are not the solution. Johnson and aldermen should explore other avenues for lasting fiscal stability. They include:

• Implementing a cost-conscious budget: consolidate pension funds, find stable pension funding, and address police staffing and overtime before considering tax increases.
• Enforcing hiring freezes strictly, excluding essential public safety roles; prioritize cuts to non-essential and administrative positions over public safety.
• Analyzing and reducing personnel costs by trimming non-essential positions in bloated departments.
• Avoiding one-time funding tactics such as using COVID-19 relief and tax increment financing surpluses that worsen future deficits.
• Advocating for pension reforms, including cost-of-living adjustments and salary caps, potentially requiring a constitutional amendment to control costs long-term.

Johnson seems determined to press on with his campaign for higher taxes. He told the Chicago Tribune “there’s nothing stopping us from having conversations with large endowments,” a clear nudge to the University of Chicago, Northwestern and other land-owning nonprofits.

Aldermen can strike down the tax increase with 34 votes. Council members now face the tough job of finding additional budget cuts and timely reforms to send their message: enough is enough for tax hikes.