Chicago City Council’s Finance Committee voted down Mayor Brandon Johnson’s 2026 revenue proposals Monday, signaling an uphill battle to pass the budget before the end of the year.
The committee’s chair, Ald. Pat Dowell, tried to stall the vote but lacked the support to keep the committee from voting on the budget Monday. The committee voted down the plan 25 to 10.
The steepest hill for the mayor will likely be convincing enough alderpeople to approve his corporate head tax proposal, which would charge large companies $21 per employee per month. Critics have argued the tax would discourage hiring and push employers outside the city.
Last week, Johnson offered to scale down the corporate head tax, only imposing it on companies with 200 or more employees, instead of 100 or more employees as originally proposed. However, it appears that change is off the table, as a substitute ordinance put forth Monday morning showed the proposed tax would once again be imposed on companies with at least 100 employees, with the extra $18 million being used for business grants.
Jason Lee, a top mayoral aide, was spotted with council members in a small copy room at City Hall amid budget negotiations. The mayor’s opponents called the conversations “arm twisting” and believed they stemmed from the mayor’s attempts to stall the budget vote.
When questioned by reporters whether the committee’s rejection of the budget means the mayor should kill the head tax plan, Johnson criticized the vote.
“There’s still only one clear choice here for us, and that’s to pass a budget that protects the interests of working people. There are obviously some members of City Council that are more interested in protecting corporations,” he said. “They have not provided an alternative proposal to my budget. And that’s why we’re going to extend the time so that they have an opportunity to offer up something.”
The vote comes the same day as media outlets have been reporting on record property tax hikes in Chicago neighborhoods. Property owners across Cook County are being asked to pay about $872 million more in taxes, an increase of almost 4.8 percent. On Chicago’s South and West sides, median bills increased by more than 30 percent in 15 community areas, according to an analysis from the Cook County Treasurer’s Office.
Ald. Brendan Reilly used the increase in property taxes as part of his argument of why he opposes the current budget proposal. He noted that due to vacant office space downtown Chicago, Cook County assessors reduced the assessed value of some commercial buildings, shifting the burden to homeowners. He said the corporate head tax would only make the problem worse.
“There’s no amount of money that’s going to convince us that a head tax is good for Chicago when we are literally reading in every newspaper in town on the front page today that the reason homeowners are getting socked on their property tax bills is because our commercial buildings have lost $400 million worth of value since the last assessment, and the reason why is because they aren’t tenanted. We’re seeing major tenants revising down their leases,” Reilly said.
Johnson reiterated Monday that he would veto a budget plan that increases property taxes next year.
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