Mayor Brandon Johnson will head to Springfield this week with a revenue wish list he says Chicago sorely needs, amid ongoing buzz over whether the Chicago Bears will clinch a megaprojects bill to move to Arlington Heights.
In a Tuesday news conference, the mayor said he will head to the state capitol later that day to advocate for three main approaches to shore up more revenue for Chicago: reversing cuts to the Local Government Distributive Fund, creating a new digital advertising tax and granting the city home rule authority to pass levies. It will be his third visit to Springfield as mayor and comes in the final stretch of the General Assembly’s spring session.
“We will continue to work with our legislative partners to pursue the progressive revenue that we need to break the cycle of budgets which have again and again been balanced on the backs of working people,” Johnson told reporters from City Hall.
On the digital ad tax, which would create a levy on advertising revenue earned from Illinois viewers, the mayor said the proposal should apply statewide. Last fall, Johnson’s Springfield lobbyist John Arena led a group of the mayor’s City Council allies to Springfield to lobby for such a tax, laying out a model that would have a “progressive rate structure (2.5% to 10%) application to firms with over $100 million in global revenue.”
“Targeted advertising has enabled these companies to reap millions in profits, so it’s only fair that they pitch in to support the well being of Chicagoans and every Illinoisan,” Johnson said Tuesday before making the case for the city also expanding its taxation powers. “We will advocate for the expansion of Chicago’s home rule authority to raise progressive revenue without burdening working families.”
If the legislature did enable such a tax, it could face legal challenges. Maryland in 2021 became the first state to pass a digital ad tax but it has been subject to litigation that’s still in court.
The three-pronged list of tax asks is less ambitious and more specific than some of the mayor’s earlier goals at Springfield, where his team has at times struggled with winning over lawmakers. Johnson expressed disappointment Tuesday that his biggest swing for progressive revenue this state legislative session — a millionaire’s tax — fell apart, but said he was focused on working with a coalition of other mayors to prioritize reforms to the Local Government Distributive Fund.
The LGDF is a longstanding revenue stream that sends a portion of the state’s income tax revenue to local municipalities. According to slides the mayor presented to reporters, Gov. JB Pritzker’s budget cuts $12.7 million from Chicago. Johnson said restoring the city’s share by 1% would raise $80 million.
Meanwhile, the Chicago Bears continue inching toward a long-awaited megaprojects bill that would be the final nail on the coffin for Johnson’s hope to keep the NFL team at Soldier Field. To that reality, the mayor argued the current proposal to allow a new stadium in Arlington heights reflects a “mismatch” between the people of Illinois and its government, and he plans to “have a conversation about the Bears” this week.
Johnson called on the Chicago delegation in Springfield to demand more, framing the fight as one of corporate interests versus progressive goals. He brushed off his unsuccessful push in 2024 on behalf of the Bears’ interests to build a new taxpayer-funded stadium on the Chicago lakefront, however, saying that his plan would have spruced up Museum Campus and catalyzed the city’s economy.
“I don’t know why any Chicago legislator would vote for anything that doesn’t benefit the people that they represent and vote for right now,” Johnson said. “At a time in which property values are increasing and affordability is becoming that much more of a challenge, to do anything in favor of entities with means without supporting families who have needs, I would find that short-sighted.”
The Tribune’s Jeremy Gorner contributed reporting from Springfield.