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Chicago mayor pushes corporate ‘head tax’ amid Windy City budget disaster

October 17, 2025 | | Print Article

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is looking to new sources of revenue for his cash-strapped city amid ongoing budget woes, including a tax on social media companies and a “head tax” that would charge large businesses a monthly fee for each person employed.

The deeply unpopular Democrat, who has made Chicagoans wistful for the good old days of Lori Lightfoot, introduced his 2026 budget proposal on Thursday with the Windy City already facing a $1.15 billion deficit for the year.

According to the Chicago Tribune, “The recommendation is a mishmash of fixes that leans on $438 million in new taxes and fees. It avoids unpopular ideas such as a property tax hike, a grocery tax or a garbage fee increase but adds a new charge on social media tech giants and a monthly $21-per-employee tax on larger companies.”

Branded as “The Protecting Chicago Budget,” Johnson will still need to sell his proposal to the Chicago City Council, and is going to play to their emotions and political biases to get them on board.

Johnson touted the budget proposal, which is already drawing criticism, by blaming the city’s budget woes on President Donald J. Trump.

“It acknowledges a harsh reality that I think, that we all can agree on. We are living in unprecedented times,” Mayor Johnson said. “We can’t respond to Trump’s cuts and the attacks on our city with speeches and press conferences. We must take concrete action.”

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“Today, Mayor Brandon Johnson presented his 2026 budget proposal to City Council, closing the budget deficit without new property taxes or regressive fees. In his third budget, Mayor Johnson is proposing new taxes on large corporations, Big Tech companies, and the ultra-rich to protect Chicagoans from cuts by the Trump administration and ensure continued investments in youth jobs, mental health care, affordable housing, and violence prevention programs,” reads a press release posted to the mayor’s official city website.

In particular, the revival of the city’s corporate “head tax” has drawn attention. With Chicago already struggling to retain and attract businesses, levying additional costs isn’t likely to trigger a hiring boom, and could further convince execs to leave the crime-ridden hellhole and its incompetent leadership for a more friendly environment.

“We are asking large corporations and big tech companies that have made trillions of dollars to pitch in a little bit more,” Johnson said.

“Mayor Johnson’s proposed 2026 budget relies on placing a tariff on jobs in Chicago and implementing policies that will further inflationary burdens on Chicago businesses and residents. If we want to be serious about fixing Chicago’s fiscal challenges, we need to focus on long-term strategies to grow and create jobs, not quick fixes and job-killing taxes like the head tax and cloud tax that hurt businesses of all sizes and sectors,” the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce said in a statement.

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“To those who say this is a fee that is anti-business, I say that investing in building a much safer city is the most pro-business investment,” hizzoner said. “If we defund the programs that have helped us make this past summer the safest summer in a generation, we will … play into the hands of the far right who want to paint our city as a dangerous and lawless destination.”

The self-proclaimed resistance leader leaned heavily on anti-ICE demagoguery in his prepared remarks for the budget rollout.

“As I speak here this morning about our budget, we have National Guard troops from Texas waiting on a court order to deploy to our streets; our federal government is in a shutdown with no end in sight; we have bands of armed, masked men with long guns and armored vehicles who have shot residents with no transparency and no oversight,” Johnson said.

“We have ICE agents harassing Chicagoans, shooting pepper balls at faith leaders, and detaining journalists,” he continued. “We had Border Patrol detain a member of our City Council for simply asking to see their warrant. We had a mother, screaming, pulled from her car while she was in line to pick up her children from school.”

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“We had Chicagoans in South Shore woken up in the middle of the night to the sound of Blackhawk helicopters and doors busted down. One resident told the media, ‘They put black people in one van and immigrants in another.’ That gets to the core of the issue. When they come for any of us, they come for all of us,” Johnson said, counting on fearmongering as a disguise for his own incompetent management of what used to be one of America’s greatest cities.

“They chose the wrong city to pick a fight with. We are Chicago,” Johnson declared.

Chris Donaldson
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