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

A potential veto of Chicago’s 2026 budget by Mayor Brandon Johnson could trigger the Windy City’s first-ever municipal shutdown.

Johnson reportedly rebuked the budget passed by council over the weekend, which lacks the mayor’s favored per-employee “head tax” on corporations, as “morally bankrupt.”

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.

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City Council lacks any Republican representation – with a Democratic majority of 48 plus two independents, so the situation represents a clash within factions of the left.

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.”

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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 also rebuked the Washington Post for its scathing editorial entitled, “Chicago Has Lost Its Mind,” which argued the head tax and other pressures on businesses will stifle economic growth.

Johnson quipped that the paper “wouldn’t be the first time a publication got something I’ve done wrong.”

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Items in the council’s budget include legalized video-gambling machines at eateries and Chicago-Midway Airport, raising the shopping-bag tax and a nationally unique proposal to tax social media companies – levying $0.50-per active Chicago user beyond 100,000 users that a platform has – with an expected windfall of $31 million, if approved.

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

Popular 1980s Democratic Mayor Harold Washington vetoed several budgets in that decade, which often led to successful last-minute negotiations.

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.

A top Johnson ally, Alderman Pat Dowell of the South Side, is leading the pro-budget coalition, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. She said the council’s proposal is “not perfect but is a good budget and one we can work with.”

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.”

Sacks, a billionaire financier who runs asset manager GCM Grosvenor, is an ally of former Mayor Rahm Emanuel and donated directly to several aldermen’s campaigns before the budget fight, according to WGN.

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.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Johnson’s office for comment.

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