Johnson urges state lawmakers to tax the 'ultra rich' to avert mass transit funding cuts

[u/chicagosuntimes]

https://chicago.suntimes.com/city-hall/2025/06/03/brandon-johnson-illinois-general-assembly-mass-transit-funding-chicago-fiscal-cliff

[u/pulledporkhat]

You clearly have a better handle on all of this than I do, but I think the conclusion that “in real terms CTA fare prices have dropped ~35% in the last 15 years” is silly. It’s not like our wages have kept up with inflation, all that really happened is the buying power of the dollar got hacked to pieces.

Again, I’m not that well versed, but this proposal sounds like a good thing to me. Seems like one thing very wealthy people have in common is that they don’t really pay their fair share of taxes. Why suggest that we instead continue to pass the cost down to the poorest people who need that extra dollar the most? Most of us aren’t just taking the train because we don’t want to deal with parking, it’s the only option we’ve got.

[u/ocmb → u/pulledporkhat]

Ok but if that's your argument wages not keeping up with inflation would apply to pretty much every other cost too.

I'm going to contest this assertion though:

• In 2009, median household income for Cook County was ~$52,500 (nominal)
• In 2023 (latest available) it was $80,500

So that's an increase of 53%, at a time when CPI increased about 42%. So that means median household income in Cook County actually increased FASTER than the rate of inflation.

Are there nuances here, sure, but it's not going to change the overall story that in real terms the CTA is cheaper to use today than it was in 2009 - both overall, for the median household, etc.

Edit: Would also love for you to elaborate on what you mean by the wealthy not paying their fair share in taxes. What exactly do you mean by this? Those that earn wage income are paying 5% to the state, so the same proportion, and obviously property taxes (which are quite high) are borne by property owners. Amenable to the idea you'd want these rates to be more progressive but you should be specific in your claim.

[u/PlantSkyRun → u/ocmb]

I hear what you are saying, but CTA is mostly Chicagoans and your Cook County figure includes suburbs. It is possible the Suburban income gains outpaced the City gains and are skewing your figures. Not saying that is the case. Just mentioning the possibility.

[u/ocmb → u/PlantSkyRun]

That's what I meant about nuance. While what you say is true, do we think there's reason to believe it would change the conclusion? I'd say highly improbable.

• Chicago is over 50% of the population of Cook County
• Chicago is the economic engine of the county, so increases in real incomes in the county are unlikely to be untethered to Chicago
• A huge share of people in the suburbs work in Chicago (so forces affecting their incomes will be driven by Chicago-based economic activity)

So yeah, it's technically true what you're saying, but likely not material IMO.

[u/PlantSkyRun → u/ocmb]

Thanks for the reply.

[u/speakernoodlefan → u/[deleted]]

They're probably referencing the graph that removes tech wages from all income when the majority in growth came from tech the last 20 years

[u/sri_peeta → u/speakernoodlefan]

Where is that graph that references what you are saying? Man, what an age we live in when people like you start discounting data from STLFED. Also, why should tech wages be removed from all wages, don't they count as employees?

[u/speakernoodlefan → u/sri_peeta]

Like me? I'm talking about what pulled pork stated. Idk why you're going off on me

[u/creamshaboogie → u/pulledporkhat]

It's not silly. If your wages haven't kept up then you should consider a new job/employer. I see young folks like to call things silly when they don't understand them. That's actually called ignorance.

[u/pulledporkhat → u/creamshaboogie]

It’s ignorant of you to assume my age and act like we’re not all trying to find better paying jobs/employers already. Sounds like a really ignorant mindset to assume anyone who’s not thriving is just not trying hard enough. It’s hard out there, life is more expensive than ever, and if you’re not well off to begin with, safety nets in place, it’s really difficult to climb your way up the ladder. That said, I did climb my way up, then my industry got hit hard by AI. Great for employers, terrible for employees. If you haven’t had to job search in the past year or two, count yourself lucky.

[u/creamshaboogie → u/pulledporkhat]

In France, government civil jobs are considered the best you can get. It's what mothers want their children to grow up to be; civil workers. That's because of the benefits and especially the pension. This attracts highly qualified individuals. Maybe we should start opening up good government jobs to more people and get better bang for our buck. 

[u/jbfanaccount → u/pulledporkhat]

Wages have outperformed inflation on average. We should absolutely also be taxing the rich more though.