Most Chicagoans, aldermen oppose Johnson’s 2026 budget

Most Chicago City Council members and residents oppose Mayor Brandon Johnson’s 2026 budget, especially his plan to tax job creation.

More than half of Chicago aldermen are pushing an alternative 2026 budget for the city that eliminates Mayor Brandon Johnson’s controversial corporate head tax in a move last seen under Mayor Harold Washington.

At least 26 members of the city council and a majority of Chicagoans polled oppose Mayor Brandon Johnson’s original 2026 budget. His original budget called for a $21 head tax on companies with more than 100 employees, but he has since pushed to tax employers with more than 500 employees $33 per worker per month.

This marks the second straight year that a majority of Chicago aldermen have pushed back on Johnson’s budget proposal after breaking his campaign promise and proposing a $300 million property tax increase last year. The mayor and the city council have until Dec. 31 to approve the 2026 budget or thrust the city into a government shutdown in the new year for the first time in city history. Johnson warns a shutdown could lead to mass layoffs and furloughs of city workers.

Aldermen have already scheduled five city council meetings before Christmas to discuss the proposal. Johnson’s current budget projects a nearly $1.2 billion deficit.

This last happened in the 1980s, when the council and Washington would battle until they were up against the New Year’s Eve deadline and finally would reach a new budget.

Instead of taxing the city’s largest job creators, the 26 aldermen’s alternative plan relies on higher garbage fees, increased liquor taxes and a new delivery surcharge among other revenue generating and cost saving changes. Their alternative revenue sources include:

• Raising garbage collection fees from $9.50 to $15.
• A new 3% tax on off-premises liquor sales.
• A 10.25% tax to Uber and Lyft rides around downtown.
• A 10% surcharge on short-term Airbnb and Vrbo rentals.

The alternative budget also includes reallocating $100 million from the city’s $1 billion tax increment financing surplus, cancelling Johnson’s plan to borrow $166 million to cover pay raises for firefighters and paramedics and fully fund $260 million in advanced pension payments.

So far Johnson has promised to veto any 2026 budget proposal that includes higher garbage collection fees, calling the fee increase unfair to working people. His cronies at the Chicago Teachers Union have echoed that, despite CTU President Stacy Davis Gates repeatedly refusing to pay her own city trash and utility bills. Aldermen would require 34 votes to override the mayor’s veto.

While the mayor claims the city is on his side, new polling from One Future Illinois shows 68% of Chicagoans who knew about the budget opposed Johnson’s original spending plan. Only 26% of respondents supported it with the rest undecided.

The polling shows 53% of Chicago respondents also opposed his original corporate head tax proposal after hearing arguments from both supporters and opponents. Only 24% of these Chicago residents polled supported the original head tax of $21 per worker for companies with over 100 city-based employees.

And that was before Johnson decided he wanted $33 per worker rather than $21.

Most of these Chicagoans also said they would blame the mayor if the government shut down because of an ongoing budget impasse.

There are alternatives, and the city already paid $3 million for analysts at Ernst & Young to figure out how to close the $1 billion budget gap through cost savings. Johnson tried to bury the report and has largely ignored it.

The City Council will meet on Dec. 15 through Dec. 18 to discuss how to resolve the budget impasse. Supporters of the alternative budget believe they will take a final vote on their version of the budget Dec. 23.

But, like Washington did, Johnson could veto their plan and take the city to the brink of a shutdown. Or beyond.