One of the front-runners in the Chicago mayoral race is studying a city tax on people who commute to Chicago for work to raise money for the city’s mounting pension debt.
Bill Daley, brother and son of former Chicago mayors of the same surname, unveiled an ambitious plan to bring the city’s population back above 3 million people by 2030. Chicago population hasn’t been that high since falling to 2.8 million in the 1990 Census. Daley said the city must address its “broken” pension system.
“We have $42 billion of pension debt at the local level. That works out to $35,000 for every single household in the city,” he said. “We have to find new revenues and everything is on the table. Marijuana, casinos, commuter taxes, real estate transfer taxes and reforms to the system must all be on the table.”