Interview with Ald. Patrick Thompson
Ald. Thompson Promoting Delivery Tax to Shore Up City Finances
As we all know, Chicago has a number of financial issues, including a huge pension liability, which has led to a rise in property taxes and fees over the past few years. Alderman Patrick D. Thompson (11th Ward) explained his proposal for a delivery tax as an additional way to deal with the city’s financial needs during his Zooming with the Alderman interview conducted by Betty Magness that premiered on May 27. Watch the full interview.
Under Ald. Thompson’s proposal, a delivery tax would be assessed on each package delivered to someone. While paid by the seller/deliverer to the city, the tax would be passed through to the purchaser. Ald. Thompson is proposing to set the tax initially at $1.25 with the rationale that this amount currently is charged to car delivery services such as Uber and Lyft, and it makes sense to charge the same amount whether a package or a person is being delivered somewhere.
While the main purpose of the delivery tax would be to raise significant new revenues for the city, Ald. Thompson said that it could have the benefit of encouraging people to purchase from brick-and-mortar stores, which collect the city’s sales taxes, pay property taxes, and employ local people. The proposed tax also recognizes that delivery trucks utilize the roads, which have to be maintained.
Before such a delivery tax could be implemented, there would need to be state legislation authorizing it, and then, of course, the City Council would need to approve assessing the tax and determining what the rate should be. Ald. Thompson would like to see some progress in getting these two steps done before he completes his current term in 2023.
Here are a few more highlights from the interview:
Ald. Thompson has proposed that some City Council meetings be held in the evening hours to enable more people to see the Council in action.
He continues to practice law while serving as an alderman and believes it gives him a wider perspective, as well as exposing him to ideas from other communities, which he brings back to the Council.
He represents a majority-minority ward, split fairly evenly among Chinese, Hispanics, and Caucasians.