Big property transfer tax increase could be back on the table in Chicago

Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she’s considering asking state lawmakers for permission to raise the city’s property transfer tax in order to plug a big budget hole.

Lightfoot made the comments after a group of advocates on Tuesday called for a 160 percent increase in the tax on home sales of more than $1 million, which they say would fund programs to help the homeless, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Lightfoot said an increase in the tax might be needed to help fill a budget gap that could be as high as $700 million, and she stopped short of endorsing the homeless advocates’ plan, saying it would cover only 5 percent of property sales.

The renewed calls for increasing the tax come months after the City Council and former Mayor Rahm Emanuel blocked several other attempts to raise the tax to boost a variety of causes.

Aldermen last year first floated increasing in the tax on properties over $1 million to fight homelessness, along with a hike on properties over $750,000 to replace lead water pipes and yet another to boost it by 160 percent for police and fire pensions.

Homeless advocates on Tuesday promoted a measure to put a referendum on the March 17 ballot to boost the 0.75 percent tax on homes sold for more than $1 million to 1.95 percent. The increase could generate as much as $150 million per year, with 70 percent going to fight homelessness and the rest to creating affordable housing. [Chicago Sun-Times] – John O’Brien