Chicago has struggled with balancing their budget for years. Politicians have tried a range of taxes to help plug the holes in excessive spending, but no tax has been sufficient to solve this problem. After the Illinois legislature previously rejected a proposal to tax food delivery and rideshare services, Mayor Brandon Johnson is looking to “tax the rich” to find more money to spend.
The mayor recently proposed reinstating Chicago’s “head tax,” a $4-per-month levy on each employee at businesses with 50 or more workers. Originally enacted in 1973, the tax remained in place until 2014, when then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel eliminated it, calling it a “job killer” and “the right thing to do.” The tax had long been criticized as a burden on large employers that discouraged job creation and made the city less attractive for business expansion.
Brandon Johnson, however, is eager to put the tax back in place.
A per-head tax is just another way of punishing success and economic growth that has become commonplace across blue cities in America. Other cities, such as Seattle, have implemented similar taxes in the past to disastrous effect; their per-head tax was repealed in 2018 within less than a month. Major employers warned of the need to relocate should the tax go through, and the city was left with no option. Should Chicago follow Seattle’s lead, many businesses may leave the city for greener pastures.
As the mayor searches for more revenue to cover his mismanaged budget, he pointed fingers elsewhere, claiming that the “billionaires and ultra rich” need to “put more skin in the game.” But arguing that tax hikes are necessary rings hollow when the city’s budget has already grown by more than $6 billion since 2019.
This comes as Illinois ranked third in the nation for population loss and lags the nation in economic growth. Another tax would take even more money out of the economy, slowing down economic prospects and pushing the state into disrepair.
The overarching theme of Brandon Johnson’s policies is to tax successful people and spend more money on failed government programs. The Democrat playbook is to tax job creators, tax the people who work those jobs, and tax them again when they get paid. Many of these mayors will find out too late that taxes punish everyone and make us all poorer at the end of the day.
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Author: Rohan Naval
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