In this episode of "Only Chicagoans Could Elect a More Inept Mayor Than Lori Lightfoot"...

Welp, we have brilliant news from Chicago City Hall, folks. Embattled Mayor Brandon Johnson, whose approval rating hovers around 7 percent, is pushing the Windy City's aldermen to implement a city grocery tax — just as the Illinois state grocery tax is set to expire. 

I mean nothing says "We were just kidding!" like slapping a new grocery tax on the city's residents before anyone notices the state grocery tax is gone. Johnson's fellow gurus pressed aldermen to fast-track his latest tax grab at Tuesday's Revenue Subcommittee meeting. Why the rush? 

Because when the state tax expires, the city will likely face an even larger budget deficit than it already has — digging the budget hole $80 million deeper than its current roughly $1 billion deficit. 

We're talking classic Brandon Johnson "logic," here: Stop the bleeding by further driving up the price of bread, milk, and eggs — along with other groceries. Well done, Mayor, well done. [eye-rolling emoji]

Chicago's Budget Director, Annette Guzman said: "We must reaffirm the grocery tax before the state’s deadline."

Here's more from the Chicago Tribune report linked above:

Gov. JB Pritzker argued the 1% grocery sales tax is regressive and hits poor families harder when he announced last year he would end it, though the same state budget that removed the grocery levy added almost $900 million in tax hikes. But Pritzker left the door open for local governments — which receive all of the tax’s revenue — to implement the same tax on their own.

Over 150 communities across Illinois have decided to enact local grocery taxes, leaving many Illinoisans set to pay the same bill to a different body. Johnson and the City Council have so far put off the thorny decision, but must decide to implement it by Oct. 1 for it to take effect when the state’s tax ends next year.

“If we fail to do the same, we will leave critical services on the chopping block,” Guzman said.

The deadline is closer than it appears. The legislation must still be introduced, will likely face stalling efforts from opponents and must win over a City Council majority by the end of September with aldermen planning to take their typical August vacation.

News flash: Pritzker was right with respect to a grocery tax being regressive. 

Incidentally, while the Illinois state sales tax rate is 6.25 percent, Cook County residents (including Chicagoans) pay an additional 2.75 percent sales tax rate, while Chicago residents pay an additional 1.25 percent sales tax, for a grand total of 10.25 percent. Toss in an additional 1 percent grocery tax rate, and you have one of the 11,863,492 reasons not to live in Chicago, thank you very much. 

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Johnson "brilliantly" argued on Tuesday that the city would not be “creating” a grocery tax if it elects to implement one because the state’s set-to-expire tax already exists, adding: 

There is a process in which the collection of the grocery tax is now being placed in the responsibility of municipalities, right? So it was a function that the state of Illinois decided to relinquish, and leave it to the cities to collect the tax. So we’re not creating a grocery tax, we’re just creating a process by which we can collect it.

The Chicago City Council has not yet voted on a grocery tax. Alderman Andre Vasquez pointed out during the meeting that a local tax was not included in Johnson’s 2025 budget, which now puts the council in an awkward position.

Ya think?

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