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Chicago Tribune
07-08-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Editorial: Brandon Johnson and friends think it's ‘a privilege to do business in Chicago.' Wrong.
In the later years of Richard M. Daley's mayoralty and especially during the tenure of Rahm Emanuel, the city of Chicago served as a magnet for corporate headquarters relocations, particularly from the suburbs. United Airlines moved its headquarters to Willis Tower from Elk Grove Village, shifting thousands of employees to the city. Kraft Heinz consolidated its base in Chicago from Northfield. McDonald's moved its home office to the West Loop from its longtime base in west suburban Oak Brook in 2018. These are just a few of the examples. At the time of these moves, the city was perceived as hot. Even companies that didn't go so far as to relocate their headquarters to Chicago opened satellite offices in the city, believing that they needed a physical presence to attract younger workers. The era we're talking about wasn't that long ago — less than a decade — but it feels like ancient history. Post-pandemic, downtown Chicago lost its mojo and, unlike New York City, has failed to recover adequately in the midst of relentless fiscal crises and poor municipal leadership. Chicago's progressive mayor, Brandon Johnson, routinely describes the corporate decision-makers in his city as the 'ultra-rich' (when he refers to them at all). With Johnson declaring on Tuesday that the city's finances are at a 'point of no return' — whatever that means — the mayor and his progressive allies believe they may have found the answer to their seemingly never-ending quest for massive revenue infusions that affect only the wealthy. A heretofore obscure advocacy group, the so-called Institute for the Public Good, has proposed a new city tax on companies and other large employers that would require them to pay 5% of their total payroll for anyone working in the city who makes $200,000 or more (including noncash compensation like stock options). The group estimates such a levy would generate $1.5 billion a year. Voila! A Chicago budget deficit now topping $1 billion in 2026 would disappear thanks to something this group pitches as a 'tax on the privilege of doing business in Chicago.' The group in a July release said the initiative was based on a similar tax Seattle passed several years ago. Seattle's 'JumpStart tax,' as that city branded the levy, 'has exceeded revenue expectations since 2020 — generating $1.2 billion in four years,' the group claimed. What the Institute for the Public Good neglected to disclose was that revenue from the JumpStart tax fell short of projections in 2024, with Mayor Bruce Harrell acknowledging that major corporations had moved 'thousands of high-paying jobs' out of Seattle to evade the tax. Amazon, for example, shifted jobs from Seattle to Bellevue, Washington. 'Large corporations should pay their fair share … but we also must recognize businesses will make choices based on their bottom line,' Harrell said. Indeed. That's how a competitive economy works. Its rules apply to municipalities just as much as they apply in the business world. The predictable corporate response to Seattle's tax, it should be noted, came even though the rates Seattle is charging are considerably less than the 5% Johnson and some progressive aldermanic allies are contemplating. In addition, the state of Washington doesn't charge an income tax on individuals or businesses. Illinois, of course, already charges a corporate income tax exceeding 9% — the second highest in the country. Imagine how much more quickly Chicago corporate employers would respond to such an egregious tax given the tax burden they already shoulder 'for the privilege of doing business in Chicago.' Such a tax would be aimed straight at the heart of companies that in the past have stuck by this city through thick and thin. Think Northern Trust. Think law firms like Jenner & Block. And, yes, United Airlines. So far, at least. For the last several years, there's been speculation about a potential United headquarters move to Denver, where the company acquired 113 acres near one of its hubs and has major growth plans. United has denied plans to move, but a tax along these lines easily could have Chicago's hometown airline calling another city home. Who could blame them? This tax could also be such a boon for the likes of Evanston that it boosts the market for high-rise office towers, soon to be filled with new offices for companies that used to base their high earners in Chicago. Suburban municipalities will be licking their lips. Already, Chicago in recent years has lost an alarming number of major corporate headquarters to locales perceived as friendlier to business. Three years ago, Caterpillar moved to Texas. Boeing decamped for the Washington, D.C., suburbs the same year. And, perhaps most famously, Citadel, one of the nation's most prominent hedge funds and market makers, left Chicago — where it was born — for Miami in 2022. Citadel's workforce once numbered 1,100 in downtown Chicago, most of whom were compensated above the $200,000 threshold Mayor Johnson now wants to tax. In a few short years, Citadel's Chicago headcount now is at just 250, we understand. Once company bosses make up their minds that the 'privilege of doing business' in a certain place is no longer worth the expense and headache, it doesn't take long for them to act. Progressives who lack respect for billionaires like Citadel CEO Ken Griffin may feel they can afford to sniff at the loss of hundreds of his highly paid employees. But the departure of those 850 Citadel workers has meant hundreds of millions in lost spending power, including tax receipts. Keep chasing folks like that out of town, and that 5% tax soon will need to be raised to something like 7.5% and surely more later. That's how once-flourishing cities like Chicago end up circling the drain.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Member of Mayor Brandon Johnson's budget group out amid Israeli hostage poster backlash
Hours after its debut, one of the members of Mayor Brandon Johnson's new budget working group has left after renewed backlash over a past video of him tearing down a poster of an Israeli hostage kidnapped by Hamas. Ishan Daya, a former candidate for 32nd Ward Democratic committeeman, was one of about 20 Chicagoans who agreed to join a mayoral task force to brainstorm fiscal and revenue solutions ahead of what is sure to be a tough city budget season for 2026, per a Friday announcement. But later in the afternoon, he announced he won't be participating. 'In the interest of the work to support a budget that advances the needs of working class folks in this city, Julie Dworkin will be the representative for the Institute for the Public Good,' Daya, a co-director of that institute, said in a statement when asked if he would stay on the budget group. Daya withdrew from his committeeman race in December 2023, after a video circulated on social media of him ripping down an Israeli hostage poster in New York City. Ald. Scott Waguespack, 32nd, ran as a write-in candidate to retain his seat in the March 2024 election. Ald. Debra Silverstein, the council's only Jewish member, spoke out against Daya's short-lived inclusion in the budget working group, in what she described as the latest sore spot from her community since the Israel-Hamas war began in October 2023. 'Appointing him to a leadership position in Chicago is a deliberate slap in the face to the Jewish community and to all those praying for the release of the 59 hostages still held in Gaza,' Silverstein wrote. 'The mayor seems determined to surround himself with people who peddle hate and division. His repeated disregard for the Jewish community is both painful and unacceptable.' Johnson spokesperson Cassio Mendoza declined comment Friday. Silverstein told the Tribune she met with the mayor at the end of April to discuss his relationship with the Jewish community and 'he appeared to want to make amends,' but the news about Daya's invitation to the city budget group has left her 'appalled.' In a blog post from December 2023, Daya wrote that the bottom half of the poster had unspecified 'claims about Palestinians that were racist and vitriolic.' He also wrote that before the video began, people surrounded him and another person ripping down the poster with him and yelled 'transphobic and homophobic slurs.'
Chicago Tribune
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Member of Mayor Brandon Johnson's budget group out amid Israeli hostage poster backlash
Hours after its debut, one of the members of Mayor Brandon Johnson's new budget working group has left after renewed backlash over a past video of him tearing down a poster of an Israeli hostage kidnapped by Hamas. Ishan Daya, a former candidate for 32nd Ward Democratic committeeman, was one of about 20 Chicagoans who agreed to join a mayoral task force to brainstorm fiscal and revenue solutions ahead of what is sure to be a tough city budget season for 2026, per a Friday announcement. But later in the afternoon, he announced he won't be participating. 'In the interest of the work to support a budget that advances the needs of working class folks in this city, Julie Dworkin will be the representative for the Institute for the Public Good,' Daya, a co-director of that institute, said in a statement when asked if he would stay on the budget group. Daya withdrew from his committeeman race in December 2023, after a video circulated on social media of him ripping down an Israeli hostage poster in New York City. Ald. Scott Waguespack, 32nd, ran as a write-in candidate to retain his seat in the March 2024 election. Ald. Debra Silverstein, the council's only Jewish member, spoke out against Daya's short-lived inclusion in the budget working group, in what she described as the latest sore spot from her community since the Israel-Hamas war began in October 2023. 'Appointing him to a leadership position in Chicago is a deliberate slap in the face to the Jewish community and to all those praying for the release of the 59 hostages still held in Gaza,' Silverstein wrote. 'The mayor seems determined to surround himself with people who peddle hate and division. His repeated disregard for the Jewish community is both painful and unacceptable.' Johnson spokesperson Cassio Mendoza declined comment Friday. Silverstein told the Tribune she met with the mayor at the end of April to discuss his relationship with the Jewish community and 'he appeared to want to make amends,' but the news about Daya's invitation to the city budget group has left her 'appalled.' In a blog post from December 2023, Daya wrote that the bottom half of the poster had unspecified 'claims about Palestinians that were racist and vitriolic.' He also wrote that before the video began, people surrounded him and another person ripping down the poster with him and yelled 'transphobic and homophobic slurs.'
