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The editorial board of the Washington Post called out Mayor Brandon Johnson on Monday, arguing he has mismanaged Chicago to the point the city has financially “lost its mind.”
The board argued that Chicago has an extensive history of using short-term economic gimmicks, and Johnson and his allies are more of the same.
The board said that Chicago’s net operating budget increased almost 40 percent between 2019 and 2025, which, according to Grant McClintock of the Civic Federation, was “subsidized in large part by temporary federal pandemic funding that kept the City financially afloat.”
However, he indicated times have changed in 2025.
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“The pandemic is over, but many of the programs and personnel positions established during that time remain, and without the benefit of the federal funding that previously supported them,” he said.
The board, in an editorial bluntly headlined, “Chicago has lost its mind,” called out one particular policy it warned could be disastrous for the city’s finances.
“The mayor proposes to increase the tax on the lease of ‘personal property’ like computers, vehicles and software from 11 percent to 14 percent, and to bring back the city’s ‘head tax,’ which would result in large employers paying $33 per worker, per month,” the board said. “By making it more expensive to do business or hire workers in the city, these measures threaten Chicago’s future economic growth and tax collections.”
Johnson was asked about a quote from the piece during a press conference on Monday and offered a scathing reply.
“Their assertion is just way off base,” he said. “In fact, we just saw the Civic Federation also substantiate what I’ve been saying all along, that there is no empirical evidence that somehow the revenue that we would generate from less than one percent of the largest corporations lead to causing harm within our job growth.”
He went on to argue that the very same Civic Federation that some of his critics rely on actually told the city last year not to pay the full pension amount, and they said that the community safety surcharge he proposed is a legitimate option. He underlined his point, saying that the very group that critical aldermen point to as fiscal experts disagrees with the Post’s argument — and even supports the tools he has been trying to use to stabilize the budget.
He proceeded to argue that despite what critics say, he can point to numerous indicators showing that Chicago’s economy is improving.
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But the above is but one of many other “gimmicks” the city has engaged in this year, the board wrote.
“Other gimmicks include a temporary hiring freeze that will do nothing to address the long-term mismatch between spending and revenue, diverting surplus funds earmarked for economic development of blighted areas into the general fund and the school system (once again sacrificing future growth to fund today’s expenditures), and slashing additional payments the city has been making to shore up the city’s underfunded pensions,” it summarized.
But there reportedly appears to be little democratic consent among the Democratic stronghold, with city aldermen releasing an alternative proposal that, among other things, raises garbage fees.
Johnson, the Post reported, has threatened to veto any budget plan that raises trash collection fees.
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Fox News Digital reached out to Mayor Johnson’s office and did not receive immediate reply.
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