Chicago Budget Survey Suggests Mayor Lightfoot May Consider Raising City Garage Parking Tax

Local 727 Urges all Members Residing in Chicago to Take the Survey and Demonstrate your Opposition

On Thursday, August 29 at 6 p.m., Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot will give her first State of the City Address where she will provide an overview of Chicago’s budget forecast.  The mayor will follow-up this address with a series of town hall meetings that will delve deeper into potential strategies for raising the city out of debt.

In preparation for her address and subsequent town hall meetings, Mayor Lightfoot’s office has released a City of Chicago Budget Town Hall Survey to gather Chicago residents’ input and opinions on the City’s budget priorities and current sources of revenue.

Included in the survey is a question asking residents if they believe the Chicago Garage Parking Tax should be increased.

Teamsters Local 727 strongly opposes any such tax hike as it would unreasonably burden workers, stifle economic development in Chicago, and threaten the city’s parking industry—an industry which currently employs nearly 4,000 Local 727 members.

“Raising Chicago’s parking tax is not the answer to the challenges facing our city,” said John Coli, Jr., Secretary-Treasurer of Local 727.  “When parking is too expensive for customers, tourists, and commuters, businesses move out of the city.  And less employers means less jobs.  We must find another way.”

Governor Pritzker’s recently passed state parking tax is already set to raise the parking tax rates for Chicago drivers to an outrageous 32-40% beginning on January 1, 2020.  The addition of a city parking tax hike on top of this statewide increase could be devastating to Chicago workers.

“Chicagoans already pay some of the highest parking taxes in the nation.  Raising those taxes even higher will not fix our city’s problems, it will only hurt working families,” added Secretary-Treasurer Coli.  “We must all join together, stand with our parking industry Brothers and Sisters, and make it clear that we do not want a Chicago parking tax hike.”

Local 727 urges all members residing in Chicago to raise their voices by taking the Chicago Budget Survey and indicating your opposition to an increase in the Chicago Garage Parking Tax.  If all Local 727 members and supporters participate, we can win this fight and save Chicago’s working families from a devastating tax hike.

Category: Current Events, PARKING