CHICAGO TEACHERS UNION’S MAYORAL CANDIDATE WANTS ‘SUBURBS TAX’ ON ‘THE RICH’
Patrick Andriesen
Chicago Teachers Union’s mayoral candidate wants ‘suburbs tax’ on ‘the rich’
Chicago Teachers Union lobbyist and mayoral candidate Brandon Johnson unveiled his ‘tax-the-rich’ revenue plan, including $800 million in new taxes on suburbanites and those who come to the city to work or play.
Mayoral challenger Brandon Johnson Jan. 23 introduced his “tax-the-rich” revenue plan for the city of Chicago, calling for $800 million in new taxes on those who come from the suburbs and elsewhere to work and play, or those in the city he deems “wealthy” that the details of his plan show are actually middle-class workers.
Johnson proposes reinstating the $4-per-month employee “head tax” on large Chicago businesses, imposing $100 million in new user fees for areas “frequented by the wealthy, suburbanites, tourists and business travelers,” and raising the real-estate transfer and financial transactions taxes for a combined $200 million.
“The suburban tax base utilizes Chicago’s infrastructure to earn their disproportionately higher income, yet their taxes fund already wealthy towns,” the plan states. “A Metra ‘city surcharge’ will raise $40 million from the suburbs.”
The Chicago Teachers Union organizer and avowed Socialist said his plan would also increase the Chicago hotel tax – which is already the highest in the nation – to generate an additional $30 million. He wants to make “the big airlines pay for polluting the air” in Chicago neighborhoods to the tune of $98 million.
Alongside redirecting $100 million in surplus tax increment financing revenues and expanding city advertising efforts, Johnson predicts the total plan will produce about $2 billion in “revenues and efficiencies.”
The additional tax revenues would also allow the city to freeze property taxes and cancel the automatic escalator, which hikes the tax annually to match inflation. Johnson said his plan promises not to raise property taxes on residents as it would only exacerbate the city’s housing crisis.
Johnson wrote the financial plan will instead make “the suburbs, airlines & ultra-rich pay their fair share” to generate $800 million in new revenues for the city.
The teachers union-backed candidate reported $3.28 million in contributions Jan. 25. State sources showed nearly $590,000 from the Chicago Teachers Union and its political committee, which was part of more than $2 million from teachers unions.
Johnson is a Cook County Board commissioner, a former Chicago Public Schools teacher and lobbyist for CTU. He helped organize three teachers strikes in the city and has pushed the Red for Ed agenda intended to spread the Socialist doctrine among teachers.
