Caveira

A lot of people are wondering are those real gambling winnings or something else. But I do agree he should pay on his winnings. If true. if I won 1.5 million at black jack or poker I would have a more concrete story. But ya.

Yes. I am leaving when my kids get to college boss. Few more years and I’m out. Like many / the rest of the white collar high tax paying people.

As I’ve stared it isn’t just Twitter. But whatever. Go on hating on Elon or whatever boss. Americans pay to much in taxes today. And it keeps getting worse

I don’t care about Twitter. Which part of that did I say I cared about. Fun fact. They will have an impossible time enforcing that. Or if they can they just will not employee people here as much. Either way it’s not good for the state or Chicago. do you like excessive taxes ? You dodged every single comment about the governments rampant spending vs additional taxes white collar people are leaving Illinois and Chicago In droves. Are twitter employees likely to be white collar or blue collar ?

You spend like rfk jr. I thought you hated him

Who is a consumer of any business over 100 employees. ? Amazon. Whole Foods? Jewel ? Mariano’s ? Walmart? Target? Banks? These are proposals. stop spending Rampant $ on nonsense and you don’t need new taxes every year. They already raised my property taxes twice in the last few years. City stickers cost a fortune. Plate stickers cost a fortune. All are increasing. You never comment on rampant spending. Just your dislike for meta or Twitter. why do I pay 0.10 a bag st the grocery store

Taxes to businesses are absorbed by the business or passed on to the consumer. I’m not sure. You seem to know. Let me know

This guys a proven tax cheat + a billionaire. 15% of his “income” is gambling wins. Sure. But raise our taxes

This and it’s endless. The $21 per employee per company over 100 is going to be passed on to Chicago people. Were discussed ad nauseam businesses leaving for tax reasons. They tax bags at the grocery store. $0.10 cents a bag. They need to look at the nonsense they spend $ on vs more taxes. White collar people and companies are leaving. It’s a house of cards

Chicago is among the highest taxed city in all of America. There are some that are close / worse but they’re crazy with their taxes. Stop wasting and expanding programs and expecting everyone else to pay for your crap. stop blowing billions on illegals and expecting us to pay more and more and more for them

Rampant spending on illegals. And now this … it’s an abc7 article … fund more and more and more things. Where does the funding end. I hear do more with less in corporate America every day. Government needs to hear this MAYOR JOHNSON PROPOSES SOCIAL MEDIA TAX TO FUND MENTAL HEALTH CLINICS IN 2026 BUDGET By Craig Wall Updated 2 hours ago Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson presented a 2026 budget proposal to the full City Council during their morning meeting Thursday. CHICAGO (WLS) -- Mayor Brandon Johnson rolled out his progressive budget for 2026 on Thursday as the city faces more than a billion-dollar deficit. ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch Ahead of his budget address, the mayor spoke surrounded by community organizations and elected leaders about the "Protecting Chicago Budget." "It acknowledges a harsh reality that I think, that we all can agree on. We are living in unprecedented times," Johnson said. A budget forecast released this summer projects a $1.15 billion deficit for the city, driven in part by the end of federal pandemic aid, and uncertainty over Chicago Public Schools pension payments. Council members have until the end of the year to negotiate changes. The budget needs 26 votes for it to pass. Johnson also called for a one-year hiring freeze that exempts public safety and other essential services. There were also frequent jabs at the Trump administration, which the mayor blamed for some of the city's financial problems. No new taxes or fees for Chicagoans The mayor's proposed budget does not impose any new property taxes or fees on Chicagoans. To avoid placing an "additional financial strain on working people," the mayor also proposed the abolition of the grocery tax and reducing the motor vehicle lessor tax from $2.75 to $0.50 per rental period. Social media tax to fund mental health programs The mayor's budget proposes two new special revenue funds for mental health and community safety. The programs would be funded by adding a tax fee on social media companies called Social Media Amusement & Responsibility Tax, or SMART. Money collected from the companies would fund "free mental health clinics throughout Chicago and the expansion of mental health crisis response teams," the mayor said. The tax would charge social media companies 50 cents per active user over 100,000 in Chicago. The mayor's office expects the proposed tax to generate $31 million. "And just like we tax other addictive vices that are bad for our health, like nicotine and tobacco, it is far past time we treat social media companies the same way," Johnson said. "Well, a social media tax has been challenged in many other states. The Supreme Court has looked at these and said these are First Amendment issues and struck down states' chances to try to tax these," 32nd Ward Ald. Scott Waguespack said. The budget also creates a $100 million Community Safety Fund to increase funding for youth diversion and employment programs. Taxing large corporations and the 'ultra-rich' As a direct response to the Trump administration's tax cut for large corporations, the mayor proposed to implement new taxes and fees on some of Chicago's wealthiest people and corporations. One of the proposed fees is a "yacht tax,"' which the mayor said would brings the rate for boat-mooring at city harbors into alignment with historical rates and the rate of parking. Two other new fees include a "vacant building fee," which is a renewal fee to recover costs, incentivize development and reduce blight and taxes on big tech companies through an increase in the Personal Property Lease Transaction Tax rate. "We are asking the top 3% of the absolute largest corporations in our city, those who have seen tremendous success and exceedingly high profits, to chip in so that we can build a safer city for all of Chicago," Johnson said. The Community Safety Surcharge would apply to companies with more than 100 employees. It would charge $21 per employee per month. It would generate $100 million in revenue That would pay for things like violence prevention programs and summer youth jobs $1 billion Tax Increment Financing surplus The mayor said it's marking the largest TIF surplus in the history of the city. The surplus is expected to support Chicago Public Libraries, financial relief to Chicago Public Schools, Chicago Park District and City Colleges of Chicago, the mayor said. RELATED: Chicago Police Department asked to come up with $98M in cuts amid city budget crisis Some alders say Johnson's proposals may not pass muster. And the ideas also drew sharp backlash from the business community. Local and state business groups blasted the head tax plan, along with the increase in the cloud computing tax. "The best way to get rid of fiscal deficits is have new jobs, and the head tax and the cloud tax are job-killing taxes that will hurt businesses of every size and sector in Chicago," said Jack Lavin, president and of the CEO Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce. The Progressive Caucus praised the head tax and other revenue ideas. "There's economic warfare being put on our cities. Trump administration is taking away funds. They're laying off our workers. They're hurting our economies. That means cities have to find new solutions to how we fund our essential services," said 49th Ward Ald. Maria Hadden, chair of the Progressive Caucus. But what alders did not see in the budget was money to pay for the new fire department contract. So the budget discussions in the coming weeks could be contentious.

They’re arresting illegals after court !!!! (Or school or day care). Such a stupid argument. I’ve said this a few times. The left likes pulling emotional purse strings. They will play this emotional game with anything repubs want to do for the next 3/4+ years. Court !!!!!! Who cares where arrests are made. If they need to be deported they need to be deported.

Yes. And don’t forget the gangs. Shake downs. Protection money. Robberies. The police don’t police much any more either.

the unions. The mayor is a puppet of the biggest one

Chicago is one of the most corrupt cities in the nation. Crime is rampant too.

Thanks for the advice… ha. Just retire somewhere smaller. Play acoustic dead tunes in the window of a bar if I’m lucky lol

I don’t think the laws allow bribes. Most of the ex governors are in jail for bribes lol. Maddigan (spelling) too

No reason to discuss that with you boss

Illinois tolls were supposed to be temporary. A progressive tax is only supposed to hurt 3% of Illinoisans. Political promises mean little in Illinois. “Toll free in ’73.” That was the campaign slogan over five decades ago that promised tolls on Illinois interstates would be a temporaryrevenue sources. Today, the tolls are higher and the tollway authority is more permanent than ever. Lawmakers promised tolls would help fund 186 miles of interstate construction and would be removed when the roads were paid off. After that, highway maintenance would be funded by the gas tax. In 1968, the General Assembly made the Illinois Toll Highway Authority permanent. What started at just 10 cents at the exits and 25 cents at the plazas has grown to cost drivers $1.50 for each I-Pass scan. Since 2009, the Illinois Tollway has hiked toll fares four times. It’s also become an easy way to employ the politically connected and hand out patronage jobs. Governors since the 1980’s have had tollway scandals. Political hires and contracts with friends of politicians from both sides of the aisle have been common at the authority. So has unwarranted growth. The Illinois Tollway’s budget for fiscal year 2019 was $1.5 billion. That’s more than double the $680 million budgeted in 2009. A look at the tollway’s revenues during the past decade, adjusted for inflation, shows just how costly the now-permanent agency has become for Illinois drivers. Revenues collected from tolls and fines for missed tolls have gone up 90% in just 10 years. https://www.illinoispolicy.org/illinois-tollway-shows-how-political-promises-are-easily-broken/

He won’t be re elected. Approval rating of like 4% or some low #

One cartel member and 36 illegals. Win win. Maybe the city shouldn’t interfere with ice. Maybe the city shouldn’t let protesters get in the way and impede arrests. Maybe the city should share info on known illegal criminals. again. You knew this was coming. You knew why Biden left the boarder open and looked the other way.

I’ll be retiring young ish. When my kids get into college. I will not be retiring in Chicago or cook county. Soon soon!!!!

agreed. Ha. But they are compensated well. City workers make me cranky sometimes. Pensions. Second pensions. Double dipping.

You being a rational level headedness to this forum boss. Welcome!

White collar workers don’t work for 60k boss. At least I wouldn’t. Also add 40% for benefits from the Google machine Average federal salary:Before the layoffs, the average federal employee salary was around $106,000 in 2024, but this figure includes a large range of positions. White-collar federal workers averaged about $110,000, while blue-collar workers averaged closer to $70,000. High-earning DOGE staff:In contrast to the laid-off employees, some DOGE staff were found to be earning six-figure salaries. This contradicted initial statements from Elon Musk that DOGE compensation would be "zero." For example, some staff working with the GSA were reportedly earning between $120,500 and $195,200 annually.