Property taxes in the Windy City are freezing over, and one Chicago city leader is making a plea for brands and businesses to bring back their headquarters and alleviate homeowners’ frostbite.
“The reason that our property taxes have gone up astronomically is because of the legislation that’s coming out of the Illinois Statehouse, specifically the SAFE-T Act, that has made us a lot less safe,” resident and ChicagoRED founder Patricia “P-Rae” Easley said on “The Evening Edit” Monday.
However, city data shows that overall violent crime in Chicago has declined in 2025 compared to the previous year, according to the mayor’s office.
“We have billionaire philanthropists like Ken Griffin – who, by the way, we miss you, Ken, come home – but he took his business, Citadel, out of Chicago,” she continued, adding that Griffin had contributed heavily in taxes before relocating.
“So when we have companies like Citadel and Boeing and Caterpillar who are leaving our downtown, now we have a higher vacancy rate and those commercial taxes are being shifted onto the homeowners.”
CHICAGO MAYOR PROPOSES REVIVING TAX THAT HAS BUSINESSES SOUNDING THE ALARM
Outspoken Chicagoans have recently brought attention to rising property tax bills with little community improvement in return, becoming frustrated over where their money is going. The reported tax hikes are tied to tax increment financing – a funding tool that uses the increase in property tax revenue within a designated area to fund local redevelopment and infrastructure projects, according to the City of Chicago’s government website.
Citadel CEO and founder Ken Griffin moved the hedge fund’s headquarters from Chicago to Miami in 2022 after nearly three decades in the Windy City. The hedge fund is one of the largest and most successful in the world, managing an estimated $65 billion in assets.
Following Citadel’s lead that same year, aircraft manufacturer Boeing moved its headquarters to Arlington, Virginia, and construction equipment maker Caterpillar relocated to Irving, Texas.
“The issue is that we don’t have enough commercial businesses paying property taxes. And those commercial businesses that are downtown are able to take advantage of tax reassessments. So then, that lowers their tax contribution by 20%. And then again, that all gets shifted onto the taxpayer,” Easley explained.
“We are dealing with Democratic, progressive failure here in the city of Chicago, and today is the day that the bill has come due,” she added. “We cannot afford the migrants, and we definitely cannot afford to continue to victimize villains at the expense of the business community, [which] then pushes that onto the homeowners.”
Neither the City of Chicago nor Citadel immediately returned Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
When it comes to Chicagoans’ taxpayer dollars, the nonpartisan research organization Illinois Policy Institute has found that more than half of a Chicago homeowner’s property tax bill goes to Chicago Public Schools.
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Fox News’ Ashley Carnahan contributed to this report.
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