Mayor Brandon Johnson of Chicago has found a solution for the city’s $1.15 billion deficit: taxpayers and businesses “have to put more skin in the game.” His task has named 39 possible tax and fee increases. That strategy would only lead to a flight of tax revenue and accelerate the Second City’s decline.

Luckily, voters don’t seem to be impressed with Johnson’s scheme. His approval rating is 26% and voters seem to get that Johnson is ignoring the city’s spending addiction. The city’s budget is up a whopping 62% from 2019 and rising over twice as fast as other major cities.

That explains why city voters rejected raising fees on the sale of high price homes and a ballot measure to shift the state from a flat to a graduated income tax failed. The City Council also unanimously rejected the Mayor’s plan to raise property taxes by $300 million.

The menu for new taxes includes: congestion surcharges on rideshare services, garbage collection and retail delivery fee hikes, permit fees on signage, driveways (!), and sidewalk cafes. The city sales tax could be expanded to include services.

What is revealing for a mayor who claims to represent people of modest incomes is how many of his task force’s ideas hit them the hardest. As the Illinois Policy Center notes:

“Chicago already has a reputation for predatory fines, from vehicle sticker tickets to late fees, that disproportionately impact low-income households. Research has documented how these policies can push families into bankruptcy.”

Just another reminder that there’s no progress in progressivism and that one by one our great cities are being destroyed from within.