Chicago mayor says head tax would have prevented deficit

(The Center Square) – Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson says his proposed corporate head tax would have prevented his administration’s projected budget shortfall of more than $130 million.

The mayor announced the projected deficit in this year’s $16.7 billion budget Tuesday and said there were other options.

“The corporate head tax, which was projected to bring in $100 million, would have prevented this shortfall,” Johnson said.

Last December, the city council rejected the mayor’s proposed $33 per-worker monthly tax on businesses with more than 500 employees.

The mayor said alternative revenue proposals from aldermen, including a provision to sell city debt to collectors, have not raised a single dollar.

“The interests of corporations projected that sticking debt collection on working Chicagoans would generate roughly $90 million in revenue. It has generated zero,” Johnson said.

In April, Chicago’s inspector general said the city is owed at least $8.1 billion a...