Mayor Brandon Johnson laid out his vision for the city's 2027 budget earlier today.

It's become reality.

The plan would need the approval of a majority of the city council and that is no easy feat for a body of 15 members, many of whom have said they oppose a corporate head tax in last year passed a budget that the mayor didn't approve.

Joining us now with their thoughts are Alderman Bill Conway of the 34th Ward who represents downtown communities like the West and South Loop.

My forward Alderman Anthony Beale who's far South Side Ward includes neighborhoods like Pullman and Roseland and Riverdale.

Alderman William Hall, who 6th Ward on the city's south side includes parts of Inglewood, Chatham and Auburn Gresham.

And Alderman Jason Ervin of the 28 word on the city's West side, which includes neighborhoods like Garfield Park Austin in North Lawndale.

He is also the Budget Committee chair.

We've got the entire city covered.

Welcome back, Tom, and good to see way.

Last month you joined a majority of our alders on a letter to the mayor saying no to a corporate head tax.

Why do you think of corporate head taxes the wrong way to go?

Well, I think if we're really going to grow the city, Chicago, we need to make sure that we're building housing and we to make sure that we're creating jobs and we have to grow to get out of our fiscal mask.

>> So too.

Tax, the behavior that we're trying to create just doesn't make any sense.

And that's why a majority of city council and frankly a majority of the city doesn't want this.

I mean, we beat this dead horse to death last year and why these guys in the mayor want to exercise that?

I can't I can't tell you.

But clearly it is not in the best interest of the city to do that urban thoughts on the attacks.

>> Well, I think that with the investment in the socially economically disadvantaged areas trying to drive investment into those areas.

Not think about looking at the seed in looking at that particular component of it, bringing investment in the areas that have been historically underserved.

I think is exactly what we wanted to want to drive investors, a community like Garfield, even my colleague Rosen, want to drive investment into those areas.

And this is a way to do that.

>> The mayor's proposal, it creates, as you mentioned, carve-outs for businesses with employees in designated socioeconomically disadvantaged areas.

Let's listen to him here.

>> So when people talk about how Chicago needs to address poverty build hospitals but refused to acknowledge the only pathway to do so is by asking giant corporations to allocate a drop in ocean of resources to make the ad investment possible.

I would politely as those people to be more fiscally responsible.

>> All right.

That's not quite the soundbite were hoping for, not the point Alderman it this change how you feel about a corporate tax?

Absolutely not.

What what this is going to do is when you try to drive businesses too communities on the south and West side with those businesses are going to do.

They're going to go across the border.

Yeah.

You can't just say we're going to drive into your community when we're right there on the border of Indiana, Wisconsin and Iowa.

You name it.

Those companies are just going locate right across the street.

So we're going to lose business.

Everything that this mayor puts forward.

Our business killers is net nothing in there where he's trying to cultivate business to create jobs and opportunity.

He 50 for the kids would.

Let me just tell you if these things keep going like collect, they're going they're going to be no jobs for the kids when they become of age to start work.

So you really think companies would just leave the city of Chicago altogether rather than move to another a different neighborhood?

Absolutely.

It's also worth noting this is really a widespread tax, a man the mayor is budget has is raising 114 million dollars.

And if you look at that, a $25 a month.

>> That means going hit 376,000 jobs.

We only have 1.2 million private sector workers in the city.

So it's going to hit about a 3rd of our workforce.

So that shows how broad base this tax 2% of the businesses that are in our city to generating that level of resources.

This is a small drop in the bucket.

We stop thinking about some of the larger companies again.

>> Those companies that are located in the communities, your grocery stores security far as Donalds and the relatively smaller companies to not even paying this.

This is really designed for those large companies, those law firms, those investment firms, those folks that are making millions of dollars to be able to bring something back to our city as well.

Other than continues take from what it's going to do.

I've been successful would create over 2000 jobs.

>> My community over the last 15 years, most of those jobs employ over 150 people.

They're going to leave.

It took everything in my power to get them to come into my community and we fought tooth and nail to attract those businesses into my area.

>> right here on the border, we were able to attract a company into the night wore from Indiana.

Well, if we keep over here with these fines and fees taxation, they go right back across see that every day we've been paid Texas has one of things I want to do is give an example of how this can work 6, 0, 6, 1, 9 zip code in which are older.

United Airlines has the number one career employees from my ward right now we're just propose is in the area in which if you 9, it will create 125 full-time jobs.

It will be exempt from this right now from 67 to 69 Vincennes.

What worth?

I'm sorry is committee can use to be right now.

The airlines industry is a shortage of pilots.

We need pilots now and so to, for example, build a flight simulator, 2 of them to be exact and which young people can not only be exposed aviation, but then it gives a pipeline for United Airlines to train the next generation of pilots and to bring pilots to the South side.

Great building, a mechanic training facility right there on same campus.

Again, you creating jobs in industry that needs pilots and mechanics again.

You creating 125 full-time jobs.

So therefore, the number one corporation, number one airline is using the number one airport is not tax.

We're asking for corporate innovation.

No different in Salesforce.

If you go down 53rd Street right now there's the Polsky Center and which University Chicago has used the upstairs of downtown downstairs retail spaces for innovation, sales force can come to a 75th street again using the upstairs as worksites 425 employees that can walk down the street.

We have had this before in neighborhoods in which industry flow was right down the street they left.

And so to have a mayor to say, if you come back to the neighborhoods in which they are residents that can do these which we talk about unemployment.

72% of unemployment is in black and brown neighborhoods.

So for corporations to come back to the neighborhoods in which the mayor say the deal no tax, that's a win-win for the city.

We're leading in aviation as well as agriculture.

We can be greens goes on next door and which, again, vacant lots can become greenhouses in which you can create jobs iPad.

James, then just realities that we have not reached 4.

And again, I say that there's opportunity, right?

There are 67 to 69 in a pipe, James, that just ideas that we haven't tried, OK?

So let's let's keep it going because there's a lot to talk about Alderman Irvine on to be on to head.

Tax mayor is also proposing.

>> Raising the personal property tax least tax on know that covers equipment.

Rental cloud computing.

The mayor calls it a tax on big tech.

What is significant about that proposal that has been one of the largest areas of growth that we've seen in our local revenue.

And again, some of the challenges that we face is what ability that we do have to create on the revenue side.

So we've seen this increase over the last 3 years.

I know right now 15%, it will still hold film rentals at their same levels.

>> But again, we've seen this increase in it.

And when you look at whose utilize in this particular you this is something we need just what one thing we have to do you concerned about it is its elasticity and about the 20%.

And so, you know, part of our budget hearing process, we need to test the elasticity of this particular revenue source because, again, you don't want to get to a point where you start getting diminishing returns, would to that point Alderman Bill, we often hear the mayor Thao Tao that tax over performed last year.

>> Do you expect to see problems if that tax that's already over performing is raised even higher?

Well, first of all, it can't be raised higher because when we passed a budget last year, it is a sunset 2028 January of 2020.

So you can't raise based on the budget we passed last year.

>> And so we don't understand why he's trying to reopen this box when basically sunset until general first of 2028.

And let me just say when you talk about the PPA PPL T that hits everything, people that are going to Home Depot trying to rent tools.

People who are trying to think key is on prom to rent a tux.

All those things, people have no idea that's going to hit the everyday person every single time they go to try to write anything, you know, scooters, people riding scooters every single day.

That's that's a lease their lease.

And that's going take what extra tax that those items are actually left at the same level as they are today.

So that one as long as the film rental is always left at the same levels are today.

So this again is more for the cloud computing.

Those types of things that >> that are not included some of the examples that Obama and Bill gave.

But again, this is going after some of the high level related stuff that we see in our city.

Yeah.

I mean, we haven't got the same level of detail that Alderman Urban seems to have gotten.

But if you're telling me that everybody by Microsoft Windows or Microsoft word is somehow paying that tax that it's a significant amount of the of the workforce.

>> And what you're seeing really is that when job killers of the head tax plus, the raising of the PPL T is going to really disincentivize job growth in the city and that's what we need.

If we want to move the city way selling and collecting debt owed to the city, it's also a point of contention.

What can the city do on that front while the amount of debt that's owed to the city has significantly increased during during this mayor's administration.

And we need to make sure that we are that we're Are you concerned that a debt sale may not be a sustainable source of revenue?

Well, I you know, it's not clear what you know, what type of debt yourself and you have some debt that owed by people that can pay at the live in the suburbs and that makes sense to collect.

And you don't want to be, however, you don't want to be worried about some of, you know, poor personal as ambulance Tatar some or something of that nature.

And so when we city Council majority of City Council, hey, you need to start collecting some of this very much left it up to the executive branch of government and and to some extent they've gone after some suburban scofflaws.

And and that's a good thing.

And that's exactly what we've been and city council trying to get them to do more of alcohol.

>> Yeah, well, I think number one, when you look at the debt collection, number one, we took it to the market.

Nobody want to touch it because at the end of the day, as we know they can.

The markets not lend to those who are favorable towards Chicago money.

We do need to look at is over the last 2 years.

Not the but the last 10 years we had some great debt collecting agencies that pa working with the city as consultants some way.

Somehow they were no longer on the consulting side in the numbers drop the factors like COVID.

But I do think that we need to go back and get than an invasive when I called dignity are rendering debt collection agencies that we work with in past and bring them back to the city to work.

We've seen work in our city, which is a debt collection is noninvasive undignified to those who are in need of the space, but us needing the money.

The proposal also calls for new spending on social services, including 7 million dollars for community violence.

Intervention programs, 12 million for mental health services and 30 million for homelessness prevention.

>> Alderman Hall back to you with your thoughts on I think number one, this is a budget that did not raise taxes.

Number 2 is a buzz.

It just immediate investment.

>> And the needs Chicagoans.

We need trees cut.

We saw that in the issues with the weather that we had.

So this again put the needs of Chicagoans first and you look at mental health clinics.

Well, we're close opened up when you also look at the investment see the eyes what was not mentioned but is important is that they will be working on public transportation as well.

So again, the commitment to not only the symptoms of violence, but the commitments to preventing by because a lot of by this can be prevented.

When you see a familiar face, it, you know, whether you could pick up the phone call that child's mother or therefore do what you need to do because you know that person it does work so investing.

And again, the conditions that people are facing, which is again needed to mental health.

And this is a reason why going back to what inviting corporations into communities where they can build in the game.

We waved to tax.

This is not a corporate tax and which got a gun behind their backs of CEOs with come to these communities, create the jobs we provide and social services and rendering services to taxpayers that they needed to get when walk out the door.

All right.

So this year's proposal also includes 481 million dollars in borrowing to cover police misconduct lawsuits.

Alderman is borrowing the right way to go to solve this problem.

>> Well, what you would like to do is go back in time and build those individuals that around with these things happen.

Sort of just don't.

We just don't have the ability do that.

>> I think that's traveling current year taxpayers with all of that at one time is not, you know, fiscally prudent to do that.

Now, again, no one likes the ball.

And again, we did not want to give a tour and 60 million dollars in the groove, our case.

But unfortunately, we had to it was, again, the best financial decision for us with spreading that out over a little bit of time, I think is is wise for us to do that.

Otherwise we'd have to make drastic cuts point to crease taxes.

And for the way that us, which is 2 things, I think we don't want to do right now, our citizens have told us pretty much.

That's not what we want to see.

So we're just trying spread the pain over the time period in which some of the stuff was inflicted NBA.

What other options does the city have?

Well, let me just say this budget.

It's totally not balanced based on our review and that we've got to that far.

>> This 223 million of additional funding.

23 million of additional funding in this budget right now, OK, people are looking for us to look within for still looking for us to tighten our belt.

May has increased spending.

He wants to create, you know, hundreds of billions of dollars of new programs.

That are not going to work and it's going to be the expense of the city, Chicago.

So they're looking for us to tighten our belt to try to figure out ways to streamline.

You know, they haven't implemented any of and young report.

None of those things have been implemented.

We need to look at those things to try to see how we can best figure out how we want to government and that's which are to do instead of turnaround asking for increased by what these that we've been doing for years.

And it's not working them.

And you've got make that crime in the city of Chicago was just some of its historic lows because we're not reporting it because shot 2 of way to do it.

So we need to show that showing about and show so many so many bodies that have recorded.

well.

there's somebody the west say, oh, please, oh, things of the budget proposal does not include an increase in property taxes.

So you're talking Alderman Bill about, you know, budget.

>> Belt, tightening things on what, under what circumstances would you increase?

Property taxes think they were voted down in 2024.

Right.

Man, will you have 882 million dollar deficit say they want to continue to spend 223 million more.

Now when you look and see what you can try to tighten the belt and try to streamline, you're spending.

This mayor is spending out of control and want to everybody wants.

Everybody wants to get in here and we're running out of time.

First of all in the morning, right mind will raise property taxes, cut jobs, cut clinics and cut services that Chicago was need.

We have a budget that doesn't raise taxes, keeps jobs and then system corporations.

If you go past downtown, we will give you a tax break.

If you bill essentially satellite offices to hire 125 people.

I think that's a win-win.

Invest a budget Chicago was hired us to the way, the fact that my colleagues here of seemingly of people Alderman Hall, she really wants to build airport the 6 ward and are looking for a time machine.

I think it tells of those little where we are and about with will talk this is what happened all the out what has continued to happen.

raise in the past?

I did vote for those days with this gentleman did here and we got nothing for.

We got close schools.

We got this invest in communities.

We've got increasing crime.

When a point now where crime is going down, communities going up, our young people working, people are doing well.

We just need to keep one of last year making those investment process stretched into late December.

You've got 5 seconds.

How long do you think is going to go I think it's going to go on a long way