Dear {{ FirstName | default: ‘CTU Family’ }},

A recent poll by HIT Strategies shows that 90% of Black and Latine Chicagoans support increasing taxes on ultra wealthy corporations to address our city’s budget needs instead of raising property taxes, laying off teachers and cutting city services, or balancing the budget on the backs of working people.

The people have spoken. Now alders must follow through on their promise to deliver the largest TIF surplus in Chicago’s history for our schools.

 

Send a message to your alder

 

What the poll shows:

  • Supermajorities across every age and race bracket support making ultra wealthy corporations contribute more.
  • Support grows even higher to nearly unanimous levels when corporate tax revenue is dedicated specifically to education.
  • 70% of Chicagoans agree our schools are not receiving enough funding.
  • Voters would view elected officials MORE favorably if they pass legislation to tax the rich and ultra wealthy corporations to invest in schools and healthcare.

Simply put: Chicagoans want leadership that fights corporate greed, not leadership that protects it.

Earlier this year, members of the Chicago City Council committed to delivering the largest TIF surplus possible for Chicago Public Schools. Mayor Johnson’s budget includes a historic $552 million TIF surplus to protect against Trump’s cuts – and fill the gap left by the nearly $2 billion in undelivered funds from Springfield.

Now it’s up to Chicago’s alders to keep their promise and vote yes on the $552 million TIF surplus for CPS. And we’ve built a tool to show what happens if they don’t.

Open the Protecting Chicago Schools Calculator

See exactly what your school and ward would lose if your alderperson votes NO on the half billion plus TIF surplus for CPS included in the Protecting Chicago Budget and use the calculator to take action.

  1. Select your school to see the estimated dollars lost and positions cut if alders vote NO.
  2. Find your ward and alderperson to see what’s at stake in your community.
  3. Send your alder a message directly demanding they keep their commitment.

Watching Chicago’s Back (and Our Front)

Right now, our city faces attacks on two fronts. For months, Donald Trump and his personal ICE army have occupied our neighborhoods, terrorizing our communities. On Wednesday morning, Trump’s authoritarian forces crossed another red line by breaking into a daycare center and abducting an educator in front of children.

But ICE attacks on our lives are just one side of the Trump coin. The other side is billionaires and ultra-wealthy corporations attacking our livelihoods by dodging taxes, privatizing services, and draining resources from our communities.

And how is Trump funding the federal agents terrorizing our neighborhoods and giving tax breaks to billionaires? With the very funds he’s stealing from our schools, SNAP benefits, and healthcare.

CTU Takes Action: Confronting Salesforce, Inc.

On Thursday morning, CTU educators and community organizers came together outside Salesforce, Inc. headquarters to call on the tech giant to stop collaborating with federal immigration forces and to help protect Chicago by paying the corporation’s fair share in taxes.

Salesforce did not choose the path of moral redemption and good corporate citizenship. Instead, it went on soft lockdown, in an attempt to prevent our group from exercising our constitutional right to protest.

Under the Protecting Chicago Budget, Salesforce would only be paying 0.05% of its over $1 billion in Trump tax breaks back into the city to support services that are critical first lines of defense in the very communities that are bearing the brunt of Trump’s attacks.

This is exactly why 90% of Chicagoans support taxing large corporations. They see what we see: corporations like Salesforce lining their pockets with billions in tax breaks while our paraprofessionals supply students with school supplies because our district can’t afford rulers and our communities face terror in the streets.

Protecting Chicago isn’t just defending each other from the agents on our streets. It’s taxing the ultra-wealthy and big corporations that Trump is giving billions to.

So the message is clear. Voting YES for the Community Safety Surcharge (a tax on large corporations) and the Protecting Chicago budget is what the majority of Chicagoans want. Our communities are tired of having the budget balanced on their backs while the largest corporations get new breaks.

YOU Take Action, Today

  1. Use the Protecting Chicago Schools Calculator to see what your school and ward would lose if Alders choose mid-year cuts over passing the TIF surplus.
  2. Contact your alderperson and tell them to vote YES on the Protecting Chicago Budget and YES on the Community Safety Surcharge, which taxes large corporations.
  3. Share the calculator with families at your school and across the city.

And remember the facts:

  • 90% of Black and Latine Chicagoans support taxing large corporations.
  • Our schools cannot afford more cuts.
  • It’s time to make wealthy corporations pay their fair share.
  • Your Alder has a choice – they can tax large corporations or they can tax us and cut vital city services.

Contact your alder

Now is the time to stand strong, because this poll proves Chicagoans are overwhelmingly united on taxing ultra-wealthy corporations. Alders committed to funding our schools. It’s up to us to make sure they keep their promise.

In solidarity,

Your CTU Leadership Team:
President Stacy Davis Gates
Vice President Jackson Potter
Financial Secretary Dr. Diane Castro
Recording Secretary Vicki Kurzydlo