Overview
- The House proposal would raise roughly $1.5 billion through a 7% statewide entertainment tax on streaming and other ticketed events, a $5 surcharge on large-event tickets that includes transit access, a 4.95% tax on billionaires’ unrealized gains, higher RTA-region sales taxes, and expanded speed-camera authority.
- House Democrats signaled the $1.50 delivery fee is off the table and showed resistance to rideshare and real-estate transfer taxes, diverging from the Senate’s spring bill that paired a delivery surcharge with a 10% rideshare tax and new EV charges.
- Sponsors said there is broad alignment on governance changes under a more powerful Northern Illinois Transit Authority, though final bill language was still being worked on with the session set to end Thursday.
- RTA’s immediate 2026 operating shortfall is reported at about $202 million, with some estimates at $230 million, and larger structural deficits forecast for 2027–2028 if no durable revenue solution is enacted.
- CTA has approved a $0.25 fare increase effective Feb. 1 and Pace is weighing a roughly 10% hike, while unions, workers and student groups are lobbying to avert cuts that advocates warn could trigger hiring freezes early in 2026 and service reductions by midyear.