{"id":1045473,"date":"2023-03-30T11:47:15","date_gmt":"2023-03-30T11:47:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jacobin.com\/2023\/03\/chicago-mayoral-election-paul-vallas-taxes-finance-campaign-donors\/"},"modified":"2023-03-30T12:50:53","modified_gmt":"2023-03-30T12:50:53","slug":"chicago-mayoral-candidate-paul-vallas-is-being-bought-by-the-rich","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2023\/03\/30\/chicago-mayoral-candidate-paul-vallas-is-being-bought-by-the-rich\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago Mayoral Candidate Paul Vallas Is Being Bought by the Rich"},"content":{"rendered":"\n \n\n\n\n

With $1.6 million in his pocket from wealthy finance donors, Chicago mayoral candidate Paul Vallas is attacking his progressive opponent Brandon Johnson\u2019s plan to fund public schools and city infrastructure by taxing financial transactions.<\/h3>\n\n\n
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\n Chicago mayoral candidate Paul Vallas speaks during a press conference at his campaign headquarters on February 3, 2023 in Chicago, Illinois. (Scott Olson \/ Getty Images)\n <\/figcaption> \n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n \n

In the final stretch of Chicago\u2019s closely watched mayoral race, candidate Paul Vallas is attacking his progressive opponent\u2019s plan to fund public schools and infrastructure by taxing the wealthy \u2014 including a tax on financial trading that would hit some of Vallas\u2019s top campaign donors.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0revenue plan<\/a> proposed by Cook County commissioner Brandon Johnson includes what he calls a \u201cBig Banks Securities and Speculation Tax<\/a>,\u201d which would levy a $1 or $2 charge on most trades. Johnson\u2019s campaign estimates this financial transaction tax could raise as much as $100 million annually for the city.<\/p>\n

Vallas opposed Johnson\u2019s tax plan during a\u00a0debate<\/a> last week, arguing that raising taxes \u201cis the absolute wrong approach to take,\u201d and that Chicago\u2019s next mayor should instead focus on reducing spending.<\/p>\n

Johnson\u2019s tax proposal would hit financial firms that profit from speculative trades, often conducted at the\u00a0millisecond<\/a> level. Executives at six such firms have contributed $1.6 million to Vallas’s bid, according to a\u00a0Lever<\/em> review of campaign finance records. That\u2019s nearly 10 percent of Vallas\u2019s total mayoral fundraising\u00a0haul<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Among the firms that profit from speculative trading is the hedge fund giant Citadel, whose financial dealings\u00a0were swept up<\/a> in the 2021 Gamestop controversy. Citadel\u2019s billionaire founder and CEO Ken Griffin has been a major funder<\/a> of right-wing politicians like Florida governor Ron DeSantis and former Illinois governor Bruce Rauner.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, Griffin endorsed Vallas,\u00a0telling<\/a>\u00a0Bloomberg News<\/em>, \u201cI really admire my colleagues who have supported Paul Vallas publicly with their voice and with their money.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson\u2019s financial transaction tax plan mirrors those proposed by progressives at the\u00a0state and federal levels<\/a>. Griffin is on record opposing the idea,\u00a0claiming<\/a>\u00a0during a 2021 congressional hearing that a national financial transaction tax would \u201cinjure Americans hoping to save for retirement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ten Citadel executives have contributed a total of $762,000 to Vallas, a former Chicago Public Schools chief who helped Wall Street firms extract more than $1 billion in additional interest payments from the school district during his tenure, as the Lever<\/em>\u00a0reported last week<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Johnson is a\u00a0former social studies teacher<\/a>\u00a0endorsed by the Chicago Teachers Union, which has\u00a0denounced<\/a> Griffin\u2019s\u00a0past interventions in local politics and\u00a0support for mass school closings<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Vallas has additionally received donations from executives at Calamos Investments, the Chicago Trading Company, Cognitive Capital, Consolidated Trading, and DRW Holdings \u2014 firms that also profit from speculative trades.<\/p>\n