Biz relationship with Emanuel takes a sour turn

The Crain's Chicago Business reports:

Emanuel himself, in an appearance before Crain's editorial board yesterday, strongly defended his record of luring dozens of new corporate headquarters to town and investing in the CBD and related projects, such as new CTA train stations.

However, he added, "there will be places I tell my friends, 'We disagree.' " Like on the minimum wage. "I've always been for a minimum wage. . . .I'm not taking a chainsaw to a single mother (with a low-wage job). I'm not."

Still, the expanded homestead exemption for owner-occupied residences that Emanuel is pushing in Springfield will cost business dearly.

According to city Budget Director Alex Holt, owners of business properties (commercial and industrial) now pay about half of Chicago's property tax bill, thanks to higher assessment rates on them. But a good chunk of the remaining 55 percent paid by residential owners actually is paid by apartment buildings—in other words, businesses—not individuals who own just their own home or condo.

Based on that, let's assume that, conservatively, half the property tax bill in Chicago is paid by business. That means that of the $534 million city property tax hike (another $45 million would go to Chicago Public Schools), at least half would come from business, or $267 million. That comes out to a 12 percent hike in the total bill citywide.

But that proposed homestead exemption would shift some of the load from homeowners to businesses. According to Holt, the average business property tax bill would rise not only 12 percent but an additional 4 or 5 percentage points beyond that.

Split the difference and the average business hike would be 16.5 percent, with about a third of the burden shifted to business.

The taxing situation in Blue America.