(The Center Square) – Chicago residents were asked during Tuesday’s primary election whether the city should change the way it assesses real estate transfer taxes on the sale of higher-valued property for the stated purpose of addressing homelessness. Voters appear to have rejected the tax increase referendum in Tuesday’s primary.
Chicago already levies some of the highest commercial real estate property taxes in the nation. Cornel Darden, the Chicago Southland Black Chamber of Commerce chairman, said advocates of the tax hike are pushing a narrative that it’s just the “rich, white man” who is going to see an increase in taxes.
“They make it a race thing and say, ‘we’re just going to tax the rich, white people and we’re going to help out everyone else,’ but it’s not just white people who own property just north of a million. Our chamber members own property north of a million dollars,”
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