Let's talk about the invisible code that runs our cities. I don't mean software, not in the traditional sense. I'm talking about the underlying operating system of rules, incentives, and funding mechanisms that dictates how we live, how we move, and how we build our future. For decades, that code has been running on legacy hardware. It’s been slow, inefficient, and prone to crashing. We see the system errors everywhere: crumbling infrastructure, underfunded public services, and a social contract that feels increasingly outdated.
We’ve all been waiting for an upgrade. A patch. Something.
Well, in Illinois, a group of lawmakers just proposed what might be the most significant upgrade to a city’s social operating system I’ve seen in years. On the surface, it’s a bill to save Chicago’s public transit from a fiscal cliff—an $800 million deficit that threatens to gut services by 40%. But when you look under the hood, this isn't just about plugging a budget gap. This is a radical, and frankly brilliant, rethinking of how a 21st-century society can and should fund its most critical infrastructure. When I first saw the demo, I honestly just sat back in my chair, speechless. This is the kind of breakthrough that reminds me why I got into this field in the first place.
A New Economic Engine
The old model of funding public transit is like trying to power a modern metropolis with a single, coal-fired power plant. It relies on a few simple inputs—fares, a slice of sales tax—and when those inputs falter, the whole grid flickers and dies. The plan put forth by Chicago Democrats Kam Buckner and Eva-Dina Delgado is something else entirely. It’s a diversified, intelligent, and deeply modern energy grid for public mobility, one where House Dems eye taxes on entertainment, billionaires’ investments to fund transit.
Let’s start with the most audacious part: a 4.95% tax on the unrealized gains of billionaires. In simpler terms, it’s a tax on the massive growth of their wealth on paper, even before they cash out their stocks. This is a paradigm shift. For decades, we’ve operated on a system where immense value can be accumulated without contributing to the public commons that makes such accumulation possible. This proposal challenges that head-on. It posits that if you’re benefiting on an astronomical scale from the economic ecosystem of a state, you have a responsibility to help maintain the circulatory system—the transit—that allows that ecosystem to function. Is it controversial? Of course. But is it a necessary conversation as we grapple with unprecedented wealth concentration? Absolutely.
But the genius here isn’t just in one big idea; it’s in the elegant synergy of several. The proposal includes a $5 surcharge on tickets for major concerts and sporting events. And here’s the beautiful part: that surcharge is your transit pass for the event. This isn't just a tax, it's a seamless, closed-loop incentive system where attending a concert automatically makes you part of the public transit solution—it’s a brilliant piece of behavioral engineering that connects the cultural life of the city directly to its physical mobility, and I think it’s just genius. It gently nudges tens of thousands of people toward public transit, reducing congestion and emissions, all while generating revenue.
What does it look like when a city’s code is written with human behavior, not just spreadsheets, in mind? It looks exactly like this.
A System Built for Resilience
The rest of the plan builds on this foundation of diversified funding. A 7% tax on entertainment, including streaming services, acknowledges that the digital economy is now a core part of our civic life and should contribute accordingly. A small bump in the regional sales tax provides a stable baseline. And allowing more municipalities to use speed cameras—with half the revenue staying local—creates a direct feedback loop between public safety and community funding.
This isn't a single point of failure system. It's a resilient, decentralized network. It’s the difference between the old electrical grid and the smart grid of tomorrow. When one source fluctuates, others are there to maintain stability. This is what robust systems design looks like in the public sphere.
Of course, there’s pushback. Skeptics, like Senate Republican Leader John Curran, argue for “reform” before funding, worrying about the tax burden. This is a healthy part of the design process. Every great operating system needs beta testers trying to break it; it forces the developers to harden the code. But framing this as just another "tax hike" misses the point entirely. This isn't just turning the dial up on the old machine. It’s building a new one. This is the moment to ask ourselves a fundamental question: Is public transit a failing business that needs to be bailed out, or is it a foundational public utility, like water or the internet, that requires a modern, sustainable, and equitable funding model to thrive?
This proposal makes a powerful argument for the latter. It’s a move away from the scarcity mindset that has hobbled American infrastructure for half a century and toward an abundance mindset, one that dares to tap into the massive value our economy generates in new and creative ways. This is less like the invention of a new tax and more like the invention of the printing press—a tool that fundamentally changes how value and information (or in this case, people) are distributed through society.
The plan isn’t perfect, and its political future is anything but certain. It has to navigate the treacherous waters of the Illinois Senate, where a different, less ambitious plan has already passed. But the conversation has been irrevocably changed. A new blueprint is on the table, not just for Chicago, but for every city in the world watching its own legacy systems begin to fail.
The Blueprint is on the Table
This isn't just about keeping the trains running on time in Chicago. It’s about a courageous attempt to write new code for our collective future. It’s a proposal that says we can build smarter, more equitable, and more resilient cities if we’re just willing to ditch the old operating system and install something designed for the world we actually live in today. And that’s a future I’m incredibly excited to see.
