Prudential Insurance Co. of America v. City of Chicago

The plaintiffs are insurance companies transacting business in Illinois, and each of them employs more than 15 persons in their Chicago offices. They thus came within the provisions of the Chicago Employers’ Expense Tax Ordinance (Chicago Mun. Code, ch. 200.3), which requires every employer who has 15 or more full-time employees within the city of Chicago to pay a tax of $3 per month per employee. The constitutionality of the ordinance was upheld in Paper Supply Co. v. City of Chicago (1974), 57 Ill. 2d 553.

On October 1, 1974, the Governor signed into law Senate Bill 1520 (Pub. Act 78 —…