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…
The Civic Federation today released Consumer Taxes in Chicago: A Compilation of Selected Taxes in Place in the City of Chicago as of January 1, 2024. 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,…
In September 2023 the Chicago City Council approved placing a referendum on the March 2024 primary municipal election ballot asking voters to approve a change in the structure of the City’s real estate transfer tax (RETT) from the current flat rate to a graduated rate. The tax would be imposed on buyers of properties. The tax proposal has been described as a “mansion” tax, but it would apply…
The following are summaries of the five most-read posts presented on the Civic Federation’s blog in 2023, listed here in chronological order. The posts examine issues related to Illinois taxes and debt, Tier 2 Benefits, the SAFE-T Act, and the tragic passing of Civic Federation President Laurence Msall.
New data from the Illinois Gaming Board show that casino revenue gross receipts have continued their recent trend of annual growth, thereby increasing tax allocations to the State of Illinois and local governments. These data also offer first-month estimates of the City of Chicago’s inaugural casino, the temporary location of which opened Sept. 9, 2023, at the former Medinah Temple building…
The most recent edition of an annual report from the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and the Minnesota Center for Fiscal Excellence compared effective property tax rates across 53 municipalities in all 50 U.S. states. The report found that property tax rates vary greatly by city and state, and the variance was correlated with several local contextual factors, including a government’s reliance on…
Throughout the 2023 Chicago mayoral campaign, Mayor Johnson stated that it was his intention to avoid increasing property taxes, citing concerns about the burden already placed on many Chicagoans. But, while the impact of property tax increases on individual homeowners and business owners is an important factor to consider, the new mayoral administration must also weigh the property tax in…
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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…
How should Illinois pay for public transit? This was one of the key questions posed at a recent policy forum on the topic of public transportation in the Chicago region hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, the Civic Federation and the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago. The policy forum, held on April 13, 2023, targeted a pressing issue: transit agencies in Chicago and…
