Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has cut his $300 million property tax proposal in half while lecturing his City Council detractors to “grow up” in their negotiations on the municipal budget.
CBS News reported Johnson’s initial $300 million proposal was rejected by the City Council in a 50-0 vote, hence the reconfiguring of his plan into a $150 million property tax hike.
“We presented a structure and a package that reduces the property tax by $150 million,” Johnson said during a press conference, where he took some council members to task for refusing to consider any tax hike. “Some of the steps and measures that are being taken, these are some individuals that are having tantrums right now. It’s time to grow up. The people of Chicago don’t have time for that.”
Johnson needs 26 votes to pass a budget plan, and Chicago faces a Dec. 31 deadline for the City Council to approve a 2025 budget plan. The mayor raised the possibility of a $128 million increase in the personal property lease tax on cloud computing services and an increase on the city tax for streaming services from 9% to 10.25% as areas for closing the city’s $1 billion budget gap.
“There are a variety of ideas that are coming in; too many to name,” he said.
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