Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson wants to punish businesses for daring to prosper and expand in the Windy City. He’s exploring adding a ‘head tax’ that will charge businesses that have more than 100 employees $21 per head each month. It’s anti-business, anti-growth, anti-employment, and anti-common sense, of course. Which is why Johnson wants it so bad.
Here’s more. (READ)
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is now proposing a new "head tax" to fix the deficit after destroying their budget.
— Geiger Capital (@Geiger_Capital ) October 16, 2025
All companies employing 100+ people in Chicago will have to pay a tax of $21 per employee per month, simply for having employees.
A punishment for hiring people. pic.twitter.com/yS4OyuGvlj
The Chicago head tax was a fee imposed on businesses based on the number of employees they had, originally established in 1973. It was phased out in 2014 due to concerns that it discouraged hiring and economic growth, but Mayor Brandon Johnson has proposed reviving it in 2025 as… pic.twitter.com/OAFCJ8HMDs
— Clayton Bob (@PygmyClay) October 16, 2025
(post continues) ...part of a new budget plan to address a significant budget deficit.
It’s a sure sign of leadership failure on Johnson’s part.
One poster lays out the punishment one receives if trying to make an honest living in Chicago, and who ultimately gets the money.
So, lemme get this straight:
— The Fanatical Moderate (@FnaticalMdrate) October 16, 2025
- They tax what you earn.
- They tax what you buy.
- They tax your property.
- They spend it on illegal immigrants, open-ended welfare and social engineering and go into massive debt.
- The only answer is taxes for employing people?
Pretty much.
— 𝗖ᴀʟʟ𝗦ɪɢɴ𝗚ʀɪᴍ1𝗖𝝮ᴍᴇᴛʜ ♞ (@HeadCasePatriot) October 16, 2025
Democrats love terrorizing the law-abiding to fund their illegal aliens and reward criminality.
One poster sarcastically responds to Johnson’s economic idiocy; then others list the many ways businesses could respond.
I cannot see any downside to this.
— GruntDoc (@gruntdoc) October 16, 2025
If you’re in the bottom 20% of a company with 120 employees, the downside is staring you right in the face.
— 🐺 (@LeighWolf) October 16, 2025
As the old adage says, if you tax something, you will get less of it. See the problem now?
— AmericanIPA8 (@AmericanIpa8) October 17, 2025
Lol. A bunch of people who were planning to set up in Chicago just changed their minds. That's how incentives work.
— yubidad (@yubidad) October 16, 2025
Would you consider companies moving out of Chicago a downside.. as your tax base further erodes
— LAWSON MCLESTER....L (@LawsonMclester) October 16, 2025
Businesses suddenly have 99 employees and 1,037 “independent contractors” who suddenly lost all their benefits…
— E.J. Antoni, Ph.D. (@RealEJAntoni) October 16, 2025
Or the companies pay it, and raise prices. So this is simply a tax on the everyday consumer.
— Average Joe (@Average_Joe67) October 16, 2025
For entrenched businesses, that last option seems most likely. With businesses of 100 employees seeing at least a $25,200 yearly tax increase for merely daring to provide jobs, they have to cover that punitive tax somehow. It's easiest to just raise prices and pass that tax on to consumers.