Acting President Sarah Wetmore appears on WTTW's "Chicago Tonight"
Analysis also explores revenue options and offers recommendations for reform(CHICAGO) – The Civic Federation released a report today detailing the City of Chicago’s major financial challenges, as well as options and recommendations to continue to stabilize the City’s financial position. In May 2023, Brandon Johnson took office as Chicago’s new Mayor and 13 new alderpersons joined City Council. The report, which is available at civicfed.org/ChicagoFinancialChallenges2023, is intended to serve as…
Click here to read the full report.Click here to read the press release for this report.INTRODUCTIONIn 2023 Chicago voters elected Brandon Johnson as the City’s new Mayor as well as a City Council with 13 new members. The City’s new political leadership will immediately face five major fiscal challenges:Recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and the end of federal recovery funds;Chicago’s public safety crisis;The City’s chronically high liability burden;Funding the City’s enormous pension…
With the upcoming implementation of an elected school board to oversee Chicago Public Schools, the governance of CPS will be separated from the City of Chicago. The 21-member elected school board, set to replace the existing seven-member board appointed by the Chicago mayor, will be phased in beginning in 2025, with the fully elected board in place beginning in 2027. The separation raises questions about the ongoing financial responsibility of the City to the school district and whether…
The City of Chicago has received a number of upgrades from credit rating agencies over the past year, for both the City’s long-term general obligation debt and other debt. City debt primarily consists of general obligation debt secured by a full faith and credit pledge of revenues, revenue debt secured by earmarked taxes and fees, Sales Tax Securitization Corporation debt, and tax increment financing debt paid for by taxes on incremental value increases of property values in TIF districts. The…
The Civic Federation released its annual Consumer Tax Rates Report in March, which lists and describes selected consumer taxes within the City of Chicago, including the complicated way the hotel operators’ tax is calculated and why. This blog post will explain in detail the hotel operators’ tax history and dissect the tax rate calculation for FY2023. Hotel Tax Rates and History The State hotel operators’ tax was enacted in 1961 at a rate of 3% of 97% of gross receipts from transient guests.…
In the current campaign for Chicago Mayor and City Council, several candidates have called for restoring the City’s employer’s expense or “head” tax, a tax that was repealed in 2014. An employer’s expense tax, or head tax, is imposed on businesses at a flat rate based on the number of employees at that firm. Typically larger firms are subject to the tax. Head taxes in the U.S. are relatively rare. Head Taxes in Other Cities Denver imposes an occupational privilege tax on both employees and…
Click here to read the full report. INTRODUCTION This annual report lists and describes selected consumer taxes within the City of Chicago. For ease of use by non-specialists, the taxes in this report are grouped under the following categories: sales taxes, tobacco and nicotine-related taxes, cannabis-related taxes, beverage-related taxes, utility-related taxes, accommodations-related taxes, transportation-related taxes and other taxes. It is important to note for tax professionals that the…
Click here to read the full report. Click here to read a press release for this analysis. MAJOR FINDINGS Effective property tax rates are a measure of property tax burden for homeowners and businesses. They translate the tax rates on property tax bills into rates that reflect the percentage of full market value that a property owed in taxes for a given year. This report, produced annually by the Civic Federation, estimates the tax year 2019 (taxes payable in 2020) effective rates…
