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Chicago Tribune
2 days ago
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Willie Wilson: Even Pharaoh knew his limits when it came to taxes
The 2026 budget crisis has reached 'a point of no return,' according to Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson. Severe underfunding of pensions and excessive government spending has led to this crisis. The city is facing a $1.1 billion budget deficit for 2026. That number will grow given the pension legislation signed by Gov JB Pritzker that increases retirement benefits for Chicago police and firefighters. Mayor Brandon Johnson is considering, among other things, a corporate payroll expense tax, a head tax, grocery tax and even a congestion tax on cars coming into downtown to close the deficit. How much more can Pharaoh tax businesses and the people without driving the city into financial ruin? These are bad ideas and would discourage employers from hiring people and harm jobs. A previous mayor called the head tax a 'job killer that puts Chicago at a disadvantage.' In this time of economic uncertainty, we need more jobs, not fewer. The mayor should be cutting costs, reforming pensions and renegotiating union contracts. A tax on businesses is a tax on consumers. Businesses pass the cost to customers by raising prices. A prime example is President Donald Trump's tariffs. The new tariffs implemented by the Trump administration will drive costs up. Prices rose 2.6% in June, up from an annual pace of 2.4% in May, the U.S. Department of Commerce reported last month. The consumer price index also went up in June. It is also expected that prices on food and drinks will climb due to the tariffs. Johnson has failed to control overtime spending. The Chicago Police Department exceeded its personnel budget by $127 million in 2024 even though it has 1,000 vacancies. Additionally, the mayor needs to get more people into the workforce. Three communities on the West Side have Great Depression levels of unemployment. According to the July 2025 Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning community data snapshots, North Lawndale unemployment was 13.9% in 2023 and 46.1% were not in the labor force. Austin had a 14.4% unemployment rate and 41.6% of people were not in the labor force. In West Garfield Park, the unemployment rate was 22.5% and 45.6% were not in the labor force. These communities underscore what is wrong with Chicago. The national unemployment rate is 4.2%. Johnson should not rely on budgetary gimmicks to balance the budget. Casino revenue is not consistent — it is a volatile source. Red-light and speed camera traffic enforcement tools have had a disproportionate impact on Black and Latino communities. Several studies have revealed that households in majority-Black and Latino ZIP codes receive tickets from red-light and speed cameras at a rate roughly twice that of households in white areas. Regressive revenue penalizes hardworking citizens. Why would citizens vote for someone who burdens them with regressive taxes and prioritizes labor unions and migrants over them? The mayor has been doing the bidding for his labor union buddies while costs are being borne by taxpayers. We need to create opportunities for people who are not a part of the union. Johnson should represent all the citizens of Chicago. The following are suggestions to address the impending budget crisis: We must get individuals in communities working. More people with W-2's increases tax revenue to the city and stabilizes families. The city of Chicago has spent $638.7 million on migrant aid since August 2022, Fox 32 reports. These are resources that were spent because of the city's sanctuary status. The people of Chicago deserve to have a say on how their tax dollars are spent. The mayor and his administration should be looking at ways to lower taxes and regulations on businesses and residents. This will lead to increased business receipts, jobs, and bring us back from the point of no return. I write this commentary to make those comfortable with raising taxes on businesses and residents uncomfortable.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Commentary: Will the Illinois GOP show up for the 2026 state elections?
We are in the important pre-primary phase of the 2026 elections in Illinois (circulation of petitions opens in September), when prospective candidates strut their endorsements — and money raised — in efforts to scare off possible opponents. In our basically one-party state, Democratic wannabes are coming off a long bench to make their cases. In contrast, Republicans have no bench of experienced, well-known prospects to speak of. Because of extreme gerrymandering, the GOP has few state legislators and no statewide officials whatsoever. Attractive but no-name candidates are being counseled by Republican insiders that this is a no-win year for the GOP and it's better to stay out. Will the GOP even show up with a slate of credible candidates for the U.S. Senate, the governorship and all other statewide offices? After all, the party in the White House generally does poorly in the midterm election. And Gov JB Pritzker has more money than Croesus ($3.7 billion, according to Forbes) and seemingly giddy enthusiasm for spending it. Recent history shows he stands ready to bankroll all the Democratic statewide candidates with more than enough money to blow away the opposition. After all, he wants to show national Democrats that he leads his party to victory up and down the line. GOP woes don't end there. Illinois Republicans are divided into a downstate (outside the seven metro Chicago counties) that is enthusiastically pro-Donald Trump, versus the suburbs, where moderates and Democrats reign. For example, DuPage County and its 920,000 residents used to be largely white and GOP. But the times, they are a'changin'. According to the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP), a language other than English is now spoken at home in nearly one-third of the households in the six counties surrounding Cook. Republican George Ryan won the governorship in 1998 with 70% of the DuPage County vote, whereas Trump garnered 42% of that county's vote in 2024. GOP nominees for the U.S. Senate and governorship will have to declare their position on Trump, a no-win situation: Come out strongly for Trump and lose the suburbs or come out against Trump and watch voters downstate sit on their hands in November. Be wishy-washy on Trump, and lose votes across the board. And who will bankroll GOP candidates in the face of such dour prospects? Billionaire Ken Griffin has departed Illinois for Florida, with his millions for GOP causes. Make no mistake: Big money has replaced party organization as the engine of candidate success. Lightning does strike, however. In 2004, little-known state Sen. Barack Obama entered a crowded field that sought an open seat in the U.S. Senate. Trailing in the polls throughout in the Democratic primary, Obama surged to victory when, near the end of the primary, the front-runner's candidacy imploded almost overnight as a result of juicy revelations of messy marital discord. In the general election campaign that followed, the attractive GOP nominee dropped out of the race because of sexual peccadilloes revealed in unsealed divorce records, and Obama skated into the U.S. Senate. The rest, as they say … I expect there will be no-name and, maybe otherwise, very attractive candidates on the ballot next year for the GOP but with little money. I have mentioned money several times in this essay. In the past decade, Pritzker has spent $400 million on his own and associates' campaigns. A Democrat, he even sabotaged the Republican primary campaign for governor in 2022. In that year, according to this newspaper, Pritzker spent $24 million to boost the nomination of possibly the weakest of his possible opponents for the general election. Pritzker's money advertised that Darren Bailey was 'too extreme' for Illinois — which was, irony definitely intended, an attractive message for a big swath of conservative GOP primary voters. Shameful politics. Big money, corrosive of democracy, could be the overarching issue for Republican candidates in 2026: 'You can't buy my vote! Don't let JB Pritzker continue to buy elections in Illinois!' Lightning does strike. But you have to show up. _____ Jim Nowlan has participated in and observed Illinois politics for six decades as an elected state legislator, statewide Republican candidate, campaign manager for U.S. Senate and presidential campaigns and professor of political science at the University of Illinois. He is a co-author of 'Illinois Politics: A Citizen's Guide to Power, Politics and Government.' _____
Chicago Tribune
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Jim Nowlan: Will the Illinois GOP show up for the 2026 state elections?
We are in the important pre-primary phase of the 2026 elections in Illinois (circulation of petitions opens in September), when prospective candidates strut their endorsements — and money raised — in efforts to scare off possible opponents. In our basically one-party state, Democratic wannabes are coming off a long bench to make their cases. In contrast, Republicans have no bench of experienced, well-known prospects to speak of. Because of extreme gerrymandering, the GOP has few state legislators and no statewide officials whatsoever. Attractive but no-name candidates are being counseled by Republican insiders that this is a no-win year for the GOP and it's better to stay out. Will the GOP even show up with a slate of credible candidates for the U.S. Senate, the governorship and all other statewide offices? After all, the party in the White House generally does poorly in the midterm election. And Gov JB Pritzker has more money than Croesus ($3.7 billion, according to Forbes) and seemingly giddy enthusiasm for spending it. Recent history shows he stands ready to bankroll all the Democratic statewide candidates with more than enough money to blow away the opposition. After all, he wants to show national Democrats that he leads his party to victory up and down the line. GOP woes don't end there. Illinois Republicans are divided into a downstate (outside the seven metro Chicago counties) that is enthusiastically pro-Donald Trump, versus the suburbs, where moderates and Democrats reign. For example, DuPage County and its 920,000 residents used to be largely white and GOP. But the times, they are a'changin'. According to the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP), a language other than English is now spoken at home in nearly one-third of the households in the six counties surrounding Cook. Republican George Ryan won the governorship in 1998 with 70% of the DuPage County vote, whereas Trump garnered 42% of that county's vote in 2024. GOP nominees for the U.S. Senate and governorship will have to declare their position on Trump, a no-win situation: Come out strongly for Trump and lose the suburbs or come out against Trump and watch voters downstate sit on their hands in November. Be wishy-washy on Trump, and lose votes across the board. And who will bankroll GOP candidates in the face of such dour prospects? Billionaire Ken Griffin has departed Illinois for Florida, with his millions for GOP causes. Make no mistake: Big money has replaced party organization as the engine of candidate success. Lightning does strike, however. In 2004, little-known state Sen. Barack Obama entered a crowded field that sought an open seat in the U.S. Senate. Trailing in the polls throughout in the Democratic primary, Obama surged to victory when, near the end of the primary, the front-runner's candidacy imploded almost overnight as a result of juicy revelations of messy marital discord. In the general election campaign that followed, the attractive GOP nominee dropped out of the race because of sexual peccadilloes revealed in unsealed divorce records, and Obama skated into the U.S. Senate. The rest, as they say … I expect there will be no-name and, maybe otherwise, very attractive candidates on the ballot next year for the GOP but with little money. I have mentioned money several times in this essay. In the past decade, Pritzker has spent $400 million on his own and associates' campaigns. A Democrat, he even sabotaged the Republican primary campaign for governor in 2022. In that year, according to this newspaper, Pritzker spent $24 million to boost the nomination of possibly the weakest of his possible opponents for the general election. Pritzker's money advertised that Darren Bailey was 'too extreme' for Illinois — which was, irony definitely intended, an attractive message for a big swath of conservative GOP primary voters. Shameful politics. Big money, corrosive of democracy, could be the overarching issue for Republican candidates in 2026: 'You can't buy my vote! Don't let JB Pritzker continue to buy elections in Illinois!' Lightning does strike. But you have to show up.
Axios
27-02-2025
- General
- Axios
Renderings: CTA Red and Purple Line revamp
CTA released renderings this week showing what the area under the Red Line from Lawrence to Bryn Mawr will look like. Why it matters: North Side commuters have been dealing with closed stations and construction since 2021, and once this next phase of the Red and Purple Line Modernization is done, CTA promises riders can expect newer, cleaner and safer stations. Zoom in: The latest renderings make under the tracks look inviting and beautified, not the dark, scary passageways with cracked pavement and water leaking from the above tracks that we're used to now. They show dog parks, a playground, a fitness area and a plaza for community events. Follow the money: The funding is a combo of federal and local dollars including $957 million in federal Core Capacity funds and a $125 million federal grant from the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP). The Trump administration's threats to cut federal funding will not affect this project, the CTA tells Axios. What's next: The Lawrence, Argyle, Berwyn and Bryn Mawr stations are slated to reopen this summer.
