CHICAGO — Gov. JB Pritzker discussed plans for economic growth in Chicago at a fireside chat Tuesday with business and civic leaders, saying he opposes a proposed head tax on employees of large businesses.
“It penalizes the very thing that we want, which is we want more employment in the city of Chicago,” Pritzker said. “It makes it very hard to attract companies from outside of Chicago to come into Chicago and harder for companies that are in Chicago to stay.”
Addressing members and guests of the Economic Club of Chicago in the ballroom of the Sheraton Grand Chicago Hotel, the governor sat on stage with Chicago Tribune theatre critic Chris Jones.
Amid the conversation, Pritzker reaffirmed his intention to run for Illinois governor in 2026 and expressed interest in Chicago hosting the 2028 Democratic National Convention, saying the event would bring business and people to the state.
When asked by Jones “from one blackjack player to another” about the odds that Pritzker would be the Democratic nominee for president, he replied, “I'm running for governor of Illinois.”
He also said he is firmly opposed Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s proposal to reinstate a $21-per-employee “head tax” on large businesses in his plan to raise $100 million to help balance the city’s budget. The city previously levied a head tax between 1973 and 2014.
A major challenge for the city’s budget this year revolves around a bill, HB 3657, that Pritzker signed into law earlier this year. The legislation was designed to ensure that Chicago firefighters and police officers receive pension benefits at the same level as first responders in the rest of the state.
The legislation, which critics have called a “pension sweetener,” is expected to cost the city more than $11 billion.
Pritzker refused to accept blame, saying that the bipartisan legislation which received a veto-proof majority was debated openly for months, and that the state heard “not a peep” from the city in opposition. He also stood by the premise of the bill.
“These are people I think all of us believe deserve to be paid what they've been promised,” Pritzker said. “They do an unbelievably hard job, and they deserve it. It was not a sweetener. It was something that they were owed.”
While Pritzker disagreed with Johnson’s head tax proposal, he said he was confident in the city’s ability to balance its budget, saying it would need to look for efficiencies and work to attract and grow businesses to do so.
Earlier this month, Pritzker announced that French tech company Pasqal would be bringing a $65 million investment to the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park, a major public-private partnership.
However, Pritzker drew a line at the state being responsible for outright propping up businesses when asked about the Chicago Bears’ hope for $855 million in public funding to support its proposed new Arlington Heights stadium.
Pritzker said he was in favor of helping with infrastructure and building roads, not using state funds to build facilities or making a deal that would shield the team from paying property taxes on the new stadium.
“What I'm not for is that we're responsible for building your factory, or we're responsible for building your new headquarters. We're not.”
The governor emphasized the wealth of the team’s ownership, referring to the team’s recent $8.9 billion valuation. Pritzker also reiterated his stance that the team must pay off its remaining debt of over $500 million from improvements to Soldier Field.
Letting the team out of that debt, Pritzker said, “is not good for taxpayers.”
“That is what I have in mind every day, thinking about the Bears and thinking about everything else,” Pritzker said. “How are we going to do the better state, and how do we stand up for our taxpayers, and how do we lift up those who are most vulnerable?”
Maggie Dougherty is a freelance reporter covering the Chicago area.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
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