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…
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City Council, several candidates have called for restoring the City’s employer’s expense or “head” tax, a tax that was repealed in 2014.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…
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,…
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…
A report released by the Cook County Clerk last month found that revenue from TIF districts increased to a record $1.6 billion for FY2021, including approximately $1.2 billion from the City of Chicago and approximately $361 million from suburban Cook County. The $1.6 billion total accounts for a 7.4% increase from FY2020 and represents 9.4% of billed property taxes in the County. In total, nine…
This blog examines online reporting of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) spending and performance measures by major U.S. cities. A key component of ARPA was a $350 billion infusion of federal funding to state, local and Tribal governments nationwide to support their pandemic recovery through the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF). The U.S. Department of Treasury outlined…
On November 7, 2022, the Chicago City Council voted to pass the Mayor’s proposed FY2023 budget of $16.4 billion. The FY2023 Proposed Budget was released in October 2022 and included a significant increase in projected revenue for both FY2023 and FY2022 from the annual Budget Forecast released two months prior in August 2022. This blog post will explore the differences in the projections between…
Click here to read the full report. Click here to read the press release for this analysis. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Civic Federation supports Mayor Lightfoot’s proposed FY2023 budget of $11.8 billion across all local funds, excluding grants and capital. The City of Chicago’s economic recovery has generated significant revenue growth in the current fiscal year and the projected continuation of…
The City of Chicago introduced the Mayor’s proposed FY2023 budget in early October, and the City Council will vote on a final budget in November. This blog post takes a look at what’s in the FY2023 budget proposal in the area of public safety spending. The Civic Federation is analyzing the budget as a whole and will release our complete analysis later this month. The City of Chicago’s Public…
As part of the American Rescue Plan Act’s (ARPA’s) $350 million federal investment into Fiscal Recovery Funds at the state and local levels, the City of Chicago received a $1.9 billion infusion under the Local Fiscal Recovery Fund (LFRF) to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.[1] In compliance with Treasury Department guidelines, the City developed and released in September 2021 a…
