Copyright Chicago Tribune
A progressive alderman allied with Mayor Brandon Johnson shouted questions at Gov. JB Pritzker in Little Village Tuesday over the governor’s opposition to Johnson’s proposed corporate head tax. Firebrand Southwest Side Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez stopped Pritzker after a Veteran’s Day ceremony, demanding the governor explain how he would “tax the rich.” The episode is the latest sign of frustration from City Hall progressives with Pritzker’s opposition to the head tax, which they want to use to balance the 2026 budget by targeting Chicago’s bigger companies. Pritzker told a crowd of business leaders last month that he is “absolutely, four-square opposed” to Johnson’s proposed $21-per-employee tax on large corporations. The measure Johnson says will bring in $100 million “penalizes the very thing that we want” by discouraging hiring and new businesses, Pritzker said. Sigcho-Lopez confronted Pritzker in front of an array of reporters, photographers and television cameras Tuesday. He told the governor the need for more taxes on the rich is tied to Trump’s immigration policies that have hit the Latino Southwest Side particularly hard. “Look, we’ve got people in basements, we’ve got people in attics, we’ve got kids being terrorized,” Sigcho-Lopez, 25th, said. “I want to talk about what we need to do to help our community.” Pritzker responded by referring to his unsuccessful efforts to amend the state constitution to create a graduated income tax. The 2020 referendum question Pritzker backed received support from 46.7% of voters, short of the 60% threshold. “What we need is a progressive income tax, a graduated income tax in this state,” Pritzker told him. “You know that I’ve worked very hard to get that passed.” As Pritzker patted Sigcho-Lopez on the arm and tried to walk away, Sigcho-Lopez tried to stop him, shouting, “no, no, no. One more second.” He also shouted at Pritzker a question about state police arresting anti-deportation protesters. Meanwhile, State Sen. Celina Villanueva and Ald. Michael Rodriguez intervened to attempt to stop Sigcho-Lopez’s questioning. “This is my ward,” the typically reserved Rodriguez shouted at Sigcho-Lopez. Sigcho-Lopez moments later approached Rodriguez, a fellow City Council Progressive Caucus member known as a close ally of labor unions. “Who are you protecting?” Sigcho-Lopez appeared to ask. “Don’t get in my face, dude,” an animated Rodriguez shouted back. Rodriguez declined later Tuesday to comment on the confrontation. But Sighco-Lopez told the Tribune he was simply trying to ask Pritzker critical questions about how to create new revenue for the city after not hearing back from the governor in earlier outreach efforts. “I came very respectfully,” he said. “I told him that we need to work together… I think as an elected official I am within my right, especially with the level of chaos we have in our community.” He said that the efforts to separate him from Pritzker show that the governor had no good answer to share when pressed on his objections to Johnson’s head tax. “Last I checked, we don’t live in a monarchy or kingdom,” Sigcho-Lopez said. “We must have a conversation. This is not about only taking pics for the cameras,” Sigcho-Lopez has found himself in hot water before for his strong rhetoric. He weathered an effort last year by some aldermen to censure him for speaking at a small protest where an American flag had earlier been burned by a veteran opposed to American support for Israel’s war efforts in Gaza. Sigcho-Lopez said at the time that he did not see the charred remains of the flag. Later last year, Johnson tried unsuccessfully to appoint Sigcho-Lopez as head of the powerful Zoning Committee. In February, Sigcho-Lopez appeared to call Ald. Bill Conway, 34th, a “white supremacist” during a City Council hearing also tied to the war in Gaza. But the alderman’s Tuesday confrontation is not the only recent manifestation of frustration from City Hall with Pritzker’s taxation stances. Johnson fired a more subtle shot at the governor Thursday during a City Hall news conference, calling it “deeply disturbing that we have leaders in this state that are prepared to defend millionaires and billionaires and not the people in Austin, not the people in Roseland.” “What is wrong with us?” Johnson said. “The ultra-rich do not need defending. They already have their defender-in-chief. They are being defended by an authoritarian tyrant. Why are we standing alongside Donald Trump to protect corporate interests?”
