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Chicago mayor labels state budget 'austere,' wants tax on 'ultra-rich'

[June 05, 2025] By Jim Talamonti | The Center Square

(The Center Square) – The mayor of Chicago has followed the lead of some Illinois state lawmakers by connecting state and local budget challenges with potential moves by the Trump administration.

Mayor Brandon Johnson spoke with members of the media Tuesday about Illinois’ record-high $55 billion-dollar spending plan passed by the General Assembly over the weekend.

“This budget was austere. There are budgetary challenges all over the country, and we’re faced with that because we do have a great deal of uncertainty, quite frankly, animosity that’s coming from the federal government,” the mayor said.

Johnson called President Donald Trump’s administration “tyrannical.”

State Sen. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet, called out Illinois Democrats for blaming the state’s fiscal woes on the president.

“Hang on, I bet Donald Trump called the mayor of Chicago and asked him to tax everybody in Illinois,” Rose said during final budget debates over the weekend.

“This sinister man, orange man bad, made you put the $20 million in for the South Side Organizing Project,” Rose said in another speech on the Illinois Senate floor.

On Tuesday, Johnson renewed his call for progressive revenue and said there are people in Illinois who could contribute more to the state’s economic growth.

“These are individuals that have done exceptionally well. I know there’s been some conversations about a millionaire’s tax and other forms of progressive taxation that challenges the ultra-rich to pay their fair share,” Johnson said.

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Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson during a news conference in Chicago June 3, 2025
Chicago Mayor's Office | Facebook

Illinois voters approved then-Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s advisory referendum for a tax on millionaires in 2014 and a similar non-binding measure last year, but subsequent efforts to implement the tax have failed.

Chicago Alderman Scott Waguespack offered a different take during a city council finance committee hearing Tuesday.

“We have seen the mayor fail to get down to Springfield in a timely manner and once again miss the boat on finding those revenue sources that we are going to need as a city to close this potentially $980 million budget gap,” Waguespack said.

Alderman Anthony Beale asked members of Johnson’s administration why they have not implemented efficiency measures aldermen proposed earlier this year and referred to the “fluff and fat” in the city budget.

Chicago is facing a projected budget deficit of more than $1 billion.

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