Overview
- Mayor Brandon Johnson signaled openness to a revised head tax set at $33 per employee per month for companies with 500 or more workers, with aides testing council support for a plan his office says could raise about $80–82 million.
- A bloc of 26 aldermen is preparing a counterbudget that rejects the head tax in favor of higher user fees and efficiencies, including nearly doubling the $9.50 monthly garbage fee, raising retail liquor fees and expanding the downtown rideshare surcharge area.
- Johnson dismissed the aldermanic plan as an “incomplete assignment” and has vowed to veto any budget that increases property taxes or the garbage fee.
- Talks over the weekend with 16 council members produced no breakthrough, and both sides acknowledge the risk of a government shutdown if a balanced 2026 budget is not approved by year-end.
- Youth organizations publicly urged keeping the head tax, arguing the revenue would preserve thousands of summer jobs, while business groups and Gov. J.B. Pritzker have criticized the levy as harmful to jobs.