Critics of Mayor Brandon Johnson's 2026 budget plan on Tuesday advanced an alternative spending plan that would increase taxes on plastic grocery bags and liquor sales, and allow ads on city vehicles and light poles, while eliminating the mayor's plan to revive the city's corporate head tax.

The aldermen's alternative budget also does not include a garbage tax increase they originally sought, which the mayor had pledged to veto. The mayor and City Council have until Dec. 30 to approve a balanced budget or face an unprecedented city government shutdown.

The City Council Finance Committee voted 22-13 to approve the alternate budget's revenue package on Tuesday, after the mayor's office told the panel it would not call Johnson's revenue ordinance for a vote.

On Monday, several of the mayor's opponents met with Johnson at City Hall to discuss their alternate budget plan, but would not provide the mayor and his finance team with details, after he declined to say if he would veto any budget that did not include his head tax plan. Instead, they waited to unveil their latest offer at Tuesday's Finance Committee meeting.

"All last week, the mayor was saying, 'Put it on the board. Put it on the board.' Well, we did put it on the board, and the fact of the matter is the head tax today should be called the dead tax, because it is not passing City Council," Ald. Bill Conway (34th) said.

In their latest proposal, the aldermen also said they would follow some of the recommendations of a consultant hired by the mayor to save more than $46 million through a number of cuts and efficiencies within the budget. Specifically, they said they would reduce the number of vacant positions in the budget, eliminate the city's HMO stop-loss coverage and have the city self-insure against high-cost claims, expand the use of warranties to recover vehicle repair costs, and reduce legal costs by relying more on city lawyers and less on private firms.

They also estimated the city could bring in nearly $90 million in revenue by selling some of the $1 billion in debt owed to the city from unpaid fines and fees, $6.8 million by legalizing video gambling terminals in Chicago, $8.7 million by raising the city's plastic grocery bag tax from 10 cents to 15 cents per bag, and $6 million from an increase in the city's liquor tax on off-premise sales.

The aldermen's bid to lift the city's ban on video gambling terminals assumes 80% of the 3,300 eligible businesses would apply for licenses, but that the state would take up to eight months to grant licenses.

Rather than assuming up to $48 million in revenue from taxes on video gambling, their latest proposal estimates only $6.8 million from licensing fees, after the mayor's budget team warned that the lag in state licensing approval would likely prevent legal video gambling machines from actually operating next year and allowing the city to collect taxes.

Aldermen also have proposed more than $35 million in new revenue from various advertising opportunities, such as selling naming rights to bridge houses along the Chicago River, selling banners on light poles, allowing advertising on city vehicles, and selling augmented reality ads on city property such as at Millennium Park or along the Chicago Riverwalk.

The alders' latest alternative budget proposal also would maintain funding for youth jobs that the mayor had proposed in his original budget.

But the mayor's budget team has questioned many of the aldermen's budget assumptions, such as questioning the legality of applying a liquor tax increase only to off-premise sales. They also have argued the city cannot rely on quickly bringing in millions of dollars of revenue from legalizing video gambling terminals in 2026, given how long it takes the state to approve those licenses.

Nonetheless, the mayor's critics moved forward with their alternative budget plan, saying they are confident their estimates are accurate and their budget plan is balanced.

"This is a balanced budget. We've worked hard on it. We can back it up with expertise, and we're going to move forward as we see fit, because as you see as of today, the mayor still has not put an alternative plan forward for us to even consider," Ald. Anthony Beale (9th) said.

Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th), one of the mayor's closest allies, said the reliance on plastic bag taxes and increased debt collection will hit the city's poorest residents the hardest.

"I think it's irresponsible to balance the budget on the backs of Chicagoans," he said. "This is smoke and mirrors, and my concern is that next year people are going to see higher bills in every level; more fines and fees in a time when people are suffering."

In a statement after the Finance Committee's vote, the mayor criticized the alternative budget's reliance on $90 million in projected revenue from selling debt owed to the city.

"This seems to be in direct contradiction with their expressed desires to shift the financial burden away from working people," Johnson said. "Not only is this proposal immoral, it is simply not feasible. There is no way to sell off Chicagoans' debts that would yield that amount of revenue. If passed as is, this proposal would likely result in a significant midyear budget shortfall and leave Chicagoans vulnerable to deep cuts to city services."

However, the mayor's statement stopped short of expressly threatening to veto his opponents' budget plan if it is ultimately passed by the full City Council, saying only that his budget team would spend the next few days reviewing all of the proposals in the alternative spending plan.

"Chicago cannot afford a government shutdown when we are making so much progress growing our economy and reducing violent crime to historic lows," Johnson added.

The City Council Budget Committee is scheduled to meet on Wednesday afternoon to take up the spending side of the city budget. If approved, a full budget plan could be presented to the full City Council as soon as Thursday, with a final vote as early as Friday.

Aldermen also have revised a schedule of several full City Council meetings before Christmas, scheduling meetings for every day through Christmas Eve, except for Wednesday, Sunday, and Monday, in hopes of passing a budget before Christmas.