The revival of a per-employee tax paid by companies in the city limits “penalizes the very thing we want, which is we want more employment in the city of Chicago,” Pritzker said to applause from the group of business leaders. “It makes it very hard to attract companies from outside Chicago to come into Chicago and harder for companies in Chicago to stay.”
The proposed monthly surcharge of $21-per-employee would apply to companies with over 100 full-time employees in Chicago who spend at least 50% of their time working in the city. As proposed, the tax would rise annually with inflation and exempt non-profits.
Instead, Pritzker recommends the city look at making further cuts to its budget while looking for ways to grow its economy. He acknowledged that potential federal cuts to programs such as SNAP and Medicaid will make the job much harder for both the city and the state.
“Balancing the budget — for the state and city of Chicago — has to be done, can’t be ignored. It shouldn’t be done with a head tax in the city of Chicago,” the governor said.
Pritzker also reiterated his opinion that the state shouldn’t provide a subsidy for a new Chicago Bears stadium, but the state would consider providing help, such as building roads or other infrastructure.
“The Bears are a successful franchise … we’ll do for that business what we do for other businesses,” he said. “Building a couple billion-dollar stadium for them, promising that they won’t pay any property taxes, we shouldn’t do that. It’s not good for the taxpayers."
The Bears have been seeking legislation in Springfield that would allow the team to freeze property taxes on a new stadium and related development for 30 to 40 years and instead negotiate an annual amount of revenue for the village of Arlington Heights and three nearby school districts. Other companies also seek such deals, which are common in other states, but not Illinois.
Pritzker also said he’s hopeful state legislators will pass legislation to shore up the finances of mass transit districts in the Chicago area and elsewhere in the state. Legislators got some breathing room on the so-called fiscal cliff created by the end of pandemic-era federal subsidies facing Metra, the Chicago Transit Authority and Pace.
The Regional Transportation Authority, which oversees the finances of the three systems, said the shortfall next year is expected to be $230 million, rather than the $771 million previously predicted — leading some to question whether legislators will punt the thorny issue to the next regular session in the spring.
“I think we’re going to have to make it happen soon. I’m asking the Legislature they do it during the veto session,” he said.
