Vallas: Pritzker, Johnson keep playing Trump card

Deep-blue Illinois had President Biden to bail out the state’s and Chicago’s financial failings. Now city and state leaders have President Trump to blame for their financial failings. Eventually, taxpayers will be held responsible.

President Joe Biden bailed out Blue States, such as Illinois, and major cities, such as Chicago, by providing $1.9 trillion in COVID relief – much of it unnecessary.

Now, President Donald Trump is poised to bail out these same states and cities: not financially, but politically as a convenient scapegoat.

For Democratic leaders facing self-inflicted financial crises, Trump will be blamed. That is what is happening in Chicago and Illinois, where leaders are going on long-winded rants.

The anti-Trump rhetoric started immediately after the election with Gov. J.B. Pritzker effectively comparing Trump and his supporters to Nazis. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, for his part, has called Trump a “terrorist.”

For Johnson, attacking Trump is about political survival. For Pritzker, attacking Trump serves a dual purpose: it distracts from his failures, plus positions him as champion of the “Trump resistance” for a possible presidential run.

All this distracts from looming financial challenges faced by the state and city.

Johnson is staring down a projected deficit of at least $1.12 billion next year in Chicago’s budget. Chicago Public Schools is expected to face more than $500 million in deficits. The Chicago Transit Authority faces a shortfall nearing $600 million. Not to be outdone, Illinois anticipates $22 billion in total shortfalls by 2030.

All this while Illinois received almost $14 billion in pandemic aid for discretionary state spending. The city, its schools and transit system received almost $6 billion. During this same period, Illinois’ big three revenue generators – the individual, corporate and sales taxes – increased by 50%.

Whatever the actual impact of Trump’s policies, Illinois’ leaders must be held accountable for the state’s and city’s financial crises created by long-time Democratic mismanagement.

Here are a few facts about Illinois’ and Chicago’s fiscal health – regardless of Trump:

• WalletHub ranks Illinois seventh in combined state and local taxes, while Kiplinger places it third – behind only New Jersey and Connecticut – in combined income and sales taxes.

• Illinois ranks third in business closures, with over 14,700 jobs lost because of mass layoffs in 2024 alone. Chief Executive magazine ranks Illinois the third-worst state for business, trailing only California and New York.

• Illinois is one of the few states to have lost private-sector jobs since 2019; employment growth has occurred almost exclusively in government.

• The state has seen virtually no recovery in manufacturing jobs since 2019, while surrounding states have enjoyed double-digit growth.

• Following a decade of population loss, the state’s population grew slightly last year – but only because of influxes in international migrants.

• Illinois has the third-highest debt per capita of any state and the highest pension debt, exceeding the combined pension debt of each of its neighboring states. Chicago’s pension debt exceeds that of 43 states and all but one neighboring state.

• Chicago has the second-highest commercial property taxes in the nation – more than double the U.S. average for the largest cities, as commercial property taxes have doubled during the past 10 years. Only Detroit has higher commercial property taxes.

• Chicago, which has the highest property and combined state and local sales taxes among big cities, has seen its property taxes on homeowners rise at 10 times the rate of their property values.

• Illinois public schools are among the best funded, yet are among the worst performing in the nation, spending an average of $21,800 per student – more than other neighboring Midwestern states – and over $30,000 per student in Chicago.

• While low-income residents and the homeless continue to be ignored, Pritzker has spent over $2.8 billion on benefits for illegal migrants – treating them as another aggrieved group to subsidize.

Without another federal rescue possible, Illinois residents should prepare for even higher state and local taxes.

With Trump around to blame, what do Pritzker and Johnson have to worry about? Illinois is a one-party state whose political power lies in a wildly gerrymandered legislative map, guaranteeing control by a party that has increasingly moved to the left, seeking to silence its own moderate voices in the process.