Politics
Budget Task Force Report Proves Chicago ‘Has a Revenue Problem, Not a Spending Problem,’ Johnson Says
Mayor Brandon Johnson addresses the news media on June 11, 2025. (WTTW News)
The report from a task force charged with finding solutions to the city’s fiscal crisis proves that Chicago’s government does not spend too much — but generates too little revenue, Mayor Brandon Johnson said.
“We don’t have a spending problem, we have a revenue problem,” Johnson said Wednesday at an unrelated event in Uptown. “That’s why my budget is going to challenge the ultra-rich to pay their fair share in taxes.”
But Johnson said he remains opposed to hiking Chicagoans’ property taxes annually to keep pace with inflation, despite the task force’s recommendation.
Unless the city’s largest revenue source starts to keep pace with inflation over time, officials will have no choice but to cut city services or hike other taxes, according to the interim report from the Chicago Financial Future Task Force released Tuesday.
In all, the report identifies between $372.4 million and $455 million in cuts. Tax hikes, new fees and fines could generate between $630 million and $1.65 billion in new revenue, according to the report.
Increasing the city’s property tax to keep pace with inflation would generate $56 million in 2026, according to the task force’s report.
That recommendation from the 24-member task force, made up of representatives of Chicago’s business, labor, nonprofit and academic organizations, was not unanimous. Any additional increase in Chicago’s property tax would decimate the city’s real estate sector, according to the dissent included in the report.
It is unclear whether the Chicago City Council would approve any increase to the property tax.
Johnson was elected in 2023 on a campaign platform that vowed to levy $800 million in new taxes on the wealthiest Chicagoans to fund new investments designed to benefit working-class Chicagoans, particularly on the West and South sides.
None of those new sources of revenue have materialized, and the City Council’s power to levy new taxes without the approval of state officials is limited.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
