Mayor Brandon Johnson’s proposed budget contains a crime-fighting idea that costs nothing — and that will, in fact, generate revenue. We should applaud and support it.
The idea? Raising the city’s tax on alcoholic beverages. Here are some statistics:
- Alcohol is involved in a substantial number of homicides and 40% of all sexual assaults.
- Alcohol is a factor in nearly 40% of violent offenses.
- The more expensive alcohol is, the fewer young people can afford it. Sober young people take fewer risks than drunk ones — and less risky behavior means less crime.
Now, the liquor lobby is complaining that Chicagoans and Chicago businesses are already so overtaxed that just one more increase would put them over the edge. But consider these statistics:
- Unlike Illinois, Chicago hasn’t raised its liquor tax since 2007.
- In real terms, based on inflation, that means the Chicago liquor tax has gone down 25%.
- Based on how much Chicagoans drink — the National Institute of Drug Abuse actually keeps track — restoring the liquor tax to the previous level would generate millions of dollars, which I’m sure we could use.
Our City Council has more new people, and more independents, than ever before. So the aldermen can succeed in raising this tax, and they should, because no crime-fighting strategy can succeed without getting alcohol use under better control.
— Kelly Kleiman, Chicago
New idea for revenue
As I drove to O’Hare International Airport late at night one recent weekend, there were at least a dozen cars with their hazard lights flashing parked on the Interstate 90 shoulder. Some were even encroaching on a lane of traffic. All of them were definitely a safety issue.
As I sat parked in the half-empty cellphone lot, which any of the drivers on the shoulder could have parked in, I came to a realization. If the city issued tickets to the drivers who were more concerned with their own convenience than the safety of others, it would make a dent in Chicago’s budget deficit. Chicago or Illinois State Police should be stationed outside O’Hare issuing citations on a regular basis.
The revenue would gradually decline as safety in driving to the airport increases.
— Bill Pierce, Deerfield
Ranked choice voting
Americans want election reforms and voted for them Nov. 5. The headline “US voters reject election reforms” (in print Nov. 25) is a misleading overgeneralization. Among other victories for ranked choice voting, 73% of voters in the District of Columbia voted to adopt ranked choice voting, and Alaska voted to keep it. Closer to home, Oak Park followed Evanston in overwhelmingly supporting a referendum to adopt ranked choice voting for Oak Park’s village elections. Voters in Peoria also signaled support for ranked choice voting.
If given a chance, Chicago voters would also support ranked choice voting.
Too many Illinois elections are uncontested, but in Chicago’s mayoral elections, we have plenty of candidates.
We need elections in which the outcomes clearly show our preferences. Unfortunately for voters (and candidates), Chicago’s top-two mayoral runoff system does not ensure the winner has wide backing from the electorate.
In 2019, there were 14 mayoral candidates; the top two went to the runoff election with only 18% and 16%, respectively, of the first round of votes. Two-thirds of voters had wanted someone else. The fact that Lori Lightfoot won every precinct and 74% of the runoff vote suggests that Lightfoot might have been the second choice of those who voted for someone else in the first round. But we’ll never know.
In 2023’s field of nine mayoral candidates, the top two had 55% of the first vote.
In Chicago’s mayoral elections, many voters’ preferences don’t count. Furthermore, outcomes are distorted if voters vote strategically for the “lesser evil.” Ranked choice elections would give any mayor more backing to advance her or his programs and save some money by avoiding a citywide runoff election.
These effects of many choices do not extend to all of Chicago’s 50 wards. In the 2023 City Council elections, there were 14 runoff elections. In most of the 50 wards, there was either no choice, a choice between two candidates or a clear winner among three or more candidates. Chicago voters need better ward boundaries but likely don’t see as big a problem in ward elections as in mayoral elections.
Let’s ask voters to approve the ranked choice election of Chicago’s mayor. Voters certainly don’t want a partisan plurality primary system in which independents have no say and extreme candidates get on the final ballot.
— Abigail Nichols, Chicago
Prioritize women’s rights
I am a young Indian woman who was born here and strongly believes in women’s rights, which are at a critical point in this country. I believe it’s time we address the challenges head on.
From the persistent wage gap to the erosion of reproductive freedoms, women still face significant barriers to full equality. Despite all the progress we’ve made, women still earn, on average, 82 cents for every dollar earned by men. The disparity is even greater for Black and Latina women, who earn just 70 and 65 cents, respectively. These are more than statistics — they are a reality that affects families’ financial stability and limits economic growth. We need stronger laws that require pay transparency and hold employers accountable for pay discrimination.
The 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade was a devastating blow to women’s rights. Millions of women have lost access to safe and legal abortions, and this disproportionately affects low-income communities and women in rural areas who already face health care barriers.
According to the Guttmacher Institute, nearly 1 in 4 women will need abortion care by the time they are 45. This isn’t a fringe issue — it’s a vital part of health care. Congress must act now to codify reproductive rights because every woman deserves the freedom to make decisions about her own body.
Additionally, we cannot ignore the ongoing fight for safety and equality in education and public life. Gender-based violence remains a crisis, with 1 in 3 women experiencing some form of violence in their lifetime. Legislation such as the Violence Against Women Act provides vital resources, but more funding and enforcement are needed. At the same time, Title IX protections for students continue to face challenges, putting young women at risk of discrimination and harassment in schools.
Women’s rights are human rights. Ensuring equality in pay, health care, safety and education isn’t just the right thing to do; it benefits everyone.
We need leaders who will make these issues a priority, and we need citizens who will demand it. The future depends on it.
— Shriya Harish, student, Barrington High School, Barrington
Our economy now
Inflation, in the last monthly report before the election, was 2.1%, just above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. Unemployment, in the last monthly report before the election, was 4.1%, which is close to what has long been considered to be “full employment”.
We were near the bottom of three-decade declines in violent and property crime rates. Stocks had been in a bull market for about two years and had been predicted to continue.
I would like to have everybody reading this either cut it out or print it and keep it.
Why? Because about the beginning of 2026, Donald Trump as president will think that enough time has passed that he can start claiming that he inherited a “terrible” situation and that he made it better.
This time, I want people to remember.
— Curt Fredrikson, Mokena, Illinois
Red state hypocrisy
The article “Bible-infused school lessons get OK from Texas ed board” (in print Nov. 24) reveals the hypocrisy of red states. The Democratic Party, which rules blue states, is often accused of playing identity politics to protect citizens from discrimination on the basis of gender, sexual identity and so forth. The list of identities protected includes religious identity. Now, Texas joins other states that have given Christian religious identity as interpreted through the Bible a larger role in public elementary education, which constitutionally should be separated from religion.
This is the definition of identity politics.
— Clara Orban, Chicago
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