Brandon Johnson's progressive tax push puts Chicago on brink of rare shutdown as mayor weighs veto

If Johnson were to veto the budget, it would place the onus back on city council to rehash a plan that could get signed before Dec. 30 - or plunge the city into shutdown.

One such Democratic critic was Alderman Gilbert Villegas of Belmont-Cragin on the city's northwest side. Villegas, a noted ally of ex-Mayor Lori Lightfoot, tweeted that he will "work hard to see if we can get 38-40 votes to override the veto" - noting that it originally passed 30-18.

Chicago faces a projected $1.2 billion shortfall for 2026. Johnson has argued that policies under the Trump administration favor corporations over working-class families and that businesses should "put more skin in the game."

But not all Democrats in Illinois agree. Gov. JB Pritzker has criticized the proposed $33-per-worker, per-month head tax, warning it would "penalize the very thing that we want, which is more employment."

Johnson quipped that the paper "wouldn't be the first time a publication got something I've done wrong."

While a shutdown would be a novel development, late-year budget vetoes in Chicago are not.

Washington, the city's first Black mayor, vetoed four budgets during his four-and-a-half-year tenure, which ended abruptly when he unexpectedly died in office after his 1987 re-election at age 65.

Alderman Byron Sigcho-Lopez, a progressive from the West Side, meanwhile voiced support for Johnson's head-tax proposal and slammed council's oppositional plan as an "immoral, bankrupt, 'Michael Sacks' budget."

Alderman Bill Conway III, a former military intel officer who represents "The Loop" in the heart of downtown, defended Sacks, telling WGN, "Michael is someone who cares about the future of the city, and he tries to work with those who are like-minded."