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Mayor Brandon Johnson Presents The Protecting Chicago Budget

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CHICAGO – Today, Mayor Brandon Johnson presented his 2026 budget proposal to City Council, closing the budget deficit without new property taxes or regressive fees. In his third budget, Mayor Johnson is proposing new taxes on large corporations, Big Tech companies, and the ultra-rich to protect Chicagoans from cuts by the Trump administration and ensure continued investments in youth jobs, mental health care, affordable housing, and violence prevention programs. The Protecting Chicago Budget prioritizes protecting Chicago's services through savings and cost reductions, protecting Chicago's programs by taxing large corporations and Big Tech, and protecting Chicago's people through increased investments and resources for vulnerable Chicagoans.

Read Mayor Johnson's prepared remarks here.

Protecting Chicago's Services Through Savings and Cost Reductions

The Protecting Chicago Budget contains more structural reforms than one-time fixes to set the City of Chicago on firmer financial footing over the coming years. Through strategic reforms targeting redundancies and inefficiency, this budget achieves more than $200 million in cost reductions for taxpayers without pursuing layoffs or cuts to constituent-facing services. These savings are realized through multiple strategies, including:
  • A targeted hiring freeze across departments;
  • Consolidation of the City's real estate assets, including the merging of office space and the selling of vacant land;
  • More than $10M saved in contract reductions with City vendors;
  • Measures to rightsize and reduce overtime expenses for police officers;
  • The elimination of duplicative technology contracts across departments.

Many of the cost-savings included in this budget proposal are part of a multi-year effort that comes from recommendations made by the Chicago Financial Futures Task Force report and the analysis conducted by the Office of Budget and Management (OBM) and EY over the past year.

Protecting Chicago's Public Schools, Parks, and Libraries against Trump Cuts

The Mayor's budget proposal includes the largest Tax Increment Financing (TIF) surplus in the City of Chicago's history, totaling more than $1 billion. This unprecedented surplus will not only support the City's continued commitments, including operations at Chicago Public Libraries, but will also provide critical financial relief to taxing districts across Cook County. These include key partner agencies such as the Chicago Public Schools, Chicago Park District, and City Colleges of Chicago, ensuring they receive additional resources at a time when federal funding for vital community programs is being withheld or reduced.

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Protecting Chicagoans from Regressive Taxes and Fees

Mayor Johnson's proposal balances the budget without imposing any new fees or regressive taxes on ordinary Chicagoans. The budget protects Chicagoans from fees that increase the cost-of-living while avoiding taxes which place additional financial strain on working people, including:
  • No proposed increase in property tax obligations;
  • The abolition of the Grocery Tax;
  • Reducing the motor vehicle lessor tax from $2.75 to $0.50 per rental period.

Protecting Chicago's Programs by Taxing Large Corporations and Big Tech

In response to the Trump administration's massive tax cuts for large corporations and the ultra-rich, Mayor Johnson's budget implements new taxes and fees on the wealthiest Chicagoans and the largest corporations, including:
  • A 'Yacht Tax' that brings the rate for boat-mooring at City harbors into alignment with historical rates and the rate of parking;
  • An increase in the 'Vacant Building Fee" renewal fee to recover costs, incentivize development, and reduce blight;
  • Taxes on Big Tech companies through an increase in the PPLT rate.

The Protecting Chicago budget also establishes two new, innovative special revenue funds to fund mental health services and community safety programs. The budget proposes an amusement tax fee on social media companies to fund free mental health clinics throughout Chicago and the expansion of mental health crisis response teams. There is a growing body of research on the negative mental health impacts of social media usage, particularly on young people. In February of this year, the Surgeon General issued an Advisory concluding that social media presents a "meaningful risk of harm" for youth.

This new tax, dubbed the Social Media Amusement & Responsibility Tax (SMART), asks large social media companies to pay their fair share to support expanded mental health care for all Chicagoans. The tax charges social media companies $0.50 per active user over 100,000 in Chicago and would generate a projected $31M to fund expanded mental health services.

The budget proposal also moves mental health care funding lines off of the federal ARPA lines and into the City's main Corporate fund, incorporating mental health care funding as a permanent part of the City's annual budget process and protecting those programs from further Trump cuts to public health or grant recissions.

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The Protecting Chicago Budget creates a new $100M Community Safety Fund to increase funding for youth diversion and employment programs, services for survivors of domestic violence and gender-based violence, mental health support for first responders, and one of the largest permanent Community Violence Intervention (CVI) programs of any city in the country.

The budget secures guaranteed funding for proven community safety initiatives through a Community Safety Surcharge, to be paid by the top 3% of large corporations operating in Chicago with more than 100 employees. 97% of small and medium-sized businesses would not be impacted. This funding will help the City continue to drive down crime and violence after experiencing historic reductions in homicides, shootings, and robberies throughout this year.

Protecting Chicago's Environment and Our Most Vulnerable Communities from Federal Overreach

The Protecting Chicago Budget strategically invests in resources and programs that protect Chicagoans' Constitutional rights and mitigate the disruption posed by Trump administration cuts to essential programs. The budget includes measures designed to protect Chicago's immigrant communities, the LGBTQ+ community, unhoused residents, returning residents, young people, and seniors including:
  • Increased investment into the Department of Law's Affirmative Litigation division, ensuring the City can continue to challenge the Trump administration's illegal withholding of funds, protect our immigrant communities from federal overreach, and hold corporations accountable;
  • $5M increase in Corporate funding for the City's Rapid Rehousing program, which helps thousands of unhoused Chicagoans quickly transition from street encampments and shelters into stable, long-term housing;
  • Funding for the Office of Reentry, community Re-Entry Centers, and re-entry job training programs tied to the Cannabis Excise Tax;
  • Funding to maintain the City's first LGBTQ+ Affairs Director to protect the rights of Chicago's queer community;
  • $7M investment into "Childcare for All" initiative, raising wages for more than 3,000 early childhood professionals to support children and families;
  • Increased support for Satellite Senior Centers to support elderly Chicagoans with programming and community.
  • Continued investment fulfilling the promise to rebuild and fully staff the City's Department of Environment
  • Maintains funding to continue building out Chicago's affordable housing stock and implement Green Social Housing.
  • Millions to support West Side residents impacted by the historic 2023-2024 floods through investments in critical infrastructure improvements and direct cash assistance for affected families.

Mayor Johnson's Protecting Chicago Budget responds to the attacks by the federal government with new investments and protections for all Chicagoans.

The full 2026 Budget Overview is available here.

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