IHCC Response to Mayor Johnson’s Proposed Budget: Protect Latino Businesses, Jobs, and Neighborhood Investment

Dear Mayor Johnson and Members of the Chicago City Council:

The Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce welcomes the opportunity to work with you on a budget that strengthens Chicago’s finances, protects essential services, and allows businesses to grow. Latino entrepreneurs have a direct stake in that outcome. They create jobs, revitalize commercial corridors, and invest in neighborhoods where business ownership offers families a pathway to economic opportunity.

Chicago’s fiscal challenges require serious solutions. But increasing the cost of hiring, operating, and investing risks weakening the very businesses our city depends on for long-term financial stability.

For Latino businesses, these decisions reach directly into the family budget, the next payroll, and the ability to keep the doors open.

We oppose a tax on employment. Chicago should encourage employers to retain workers and create new opportunities. Even when a tax applies to larger companies, its potential consequences extend to the smaller businesses that supply them, serve their employees, and depend on their investment. Latino-owned contractors, restaurants, retailers, and professional service firms are part of that interconnected economy.

Our work at IHCC focuses on helping small businesses grow into larger employers and compete for bigger contracts. City policy should support that progress. Entrepreneurs should see Chicago as a place where they can expand with confidence.

We are also concerned about the proposed increase in the Personal Property Lease Transaction Tax from 15% to 20%. This proposal would raise costs on taxable leased equipment and cloud-based technology used by businesses across the city. For a small business, accounting software, customer management systems, and leased equipment are tools for daily operations and growth.

At IHCC, we help Latino entrepreneurs adopt technology, improve productivity, and compete for procurement opportunities. Increasing the cost of those tools would work against that effort. For an owner operating on a narrow margin, another expense can mean delaying an equipment purchase, postponing a hire, or putting expansion plans on hold.

Latino entrepreneurs deserve a meaningful voice in these budget decisions. Their businesses help sustain Chicago’s neighborhoods, and their experience should inform the policies that shape our city’s economic future.

We recognize that businesses also depend on effective government. Public safety, reliable infrastructure, transportation, and responsive city services are essential to thriving commercial corridors. Protecting those services requires a sustainable financial plan, supported by realistic revenue projections, spending discipline, measurable efficiencies, and economic growth.

We urge the administration and City Council to pursue a budget that:

● Encourages hiring, business expansion, and neighborhood investment.
● Protects essential services while implementing measurable operational efficiencies.
● Evaluates the cumulative impact of taxes and fees on small businesses.
● Expands access to city contracts and reduces unnecessary barriers to doing business.
● Includes Latino business owners and neighborhood chambers in substantive budget discussions.

IHCC stands ready to help develop practical solutions. Our members understand what it takes to meet payroll, manage rising costs, and make difficult financial decisions. Their insight belongs at the table.

We urge the City Council to reject the proposed employment tax and lease tax increase and work with the business community on a sustainable alternative.

Chicago cannot build an affordable future by making it more expensive to create opportunity. Latino businesses are essential partners in that future, and the city’s budget should help them succeed.