CHICAGO – Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is proposing the revival of a company tax that the Windy Metropolis eradicated over a decade in the past that companies are warning would price the town jobs.
Johnson is proposing a so-called “head tax” that might apply to corporations with greater than 100 staff and would levy a month-to-month $21 per worker on corporations that meet the employment threshold.Â
What we all know:
The quantity of the tax would enhance based mostly on inflation, and can be assessed based mostly on the variety of staff who work in Chicago 50% or extra of the time.
The mayor sees it as a method of lowering Chicago’s $1.2 billion funds shortfall, and the town estimates it might increase $100 million yearly.
Chicago had a head tax in place from 1973 to 2014, elevating a mean of $20 million in tax income over that interval. The tax quantity was $4 per head for corporations with over 50 staff – although it dropped to $2 in 2012 when the phaseout of the tax started beneath Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
Illinois Restaurant Affiliation President Sam Toia instructed FOX Enterprise Community’s Kelly Saberi that the pinnacle tax can be a “job killer.”
“I used to say earlier than the pandemic, eating places used to work on nickels and dimes. Now they work on pennies and nickels, and if we’ve got this job-killer head tax, it’ll kill jobs, and we’re not going to see the restaurant business develop right here within the metropolis of Chicago,” Toia mentioned.
Johnson is proposing a collection of different taxes, together with on cloud providers, rideshare providers in high-traffic zones, social media corporations, on-line sports activities betting and yacht mooring to assist increase income.
The cloud tax, which is already in place and would rise from 11% to 14%, would increase an estimated $333 million in income yearly. The rideshare tax would increase by including a heavy-traffic zone and would increase a projected $230 million yearly.
Chicago has seen a number of high-profile departures of companies lately, together with Ken Griffin’s Citadel.
Companies which have moved their headquarters or important parts of their operations out of Chicago embrace Boeing, Caterpillar, Guggenheim Companions, TTX and Tyson Meals.
