Chicago – January 01, 2025
Mayor Brandon Johnson and aldermen got their 2025 city budget passed just under the wire — and just in time for Chicagoans to start paying more as the calendar flips to 2025 for the host of tax, fine and fee increases the city’s political leaders picked to balance the books.
The chaotic budget battle had its hard lines. Johnson refused to lower spending via broad layoffs and service cuts, and aldermen refused his property tax hike proposals.
So the city’s new spending plan finally came together in large part thanks to a series of smaller — and, theoretically, less politically toxic — hikes expected to bring in nearly $200 million next year. That bill is widespread, targeting everything from Netflix subscriptions and corporate cloud computing to drivers caught speeding by cameras and pedicab licenses.
Still, Chicagoans will pay more in many ways to make city government run.
The personal property lease tax rate will rise from 9% to 11%. The bump — projected by Johnson’s Office of Budget and Management to bring in an additional $128 million each year — is by far the largest revenue-raiser going into effect.
The hike will mostly hit businesses, over 4,000 of which file for the tax, according to the OBM. The tax affects payments for cloud computing software, including many of the online work tools on which employees and companies increasingly rely.
In another tech-based bump, the tax on streaming services and cable TV will rise from 9% to 10.25% to bring in a projected $12.9 million. The hike will hit basic TV watchers and subscribers to services such as Netflix and Hulu. The tax was last increased in 2009, and the new hike brings the rate in line with the city’s sales tax, according to the OBM.
