Fix the Broken Tax System

Ortiz knows Chicago families are slammed year after year with higher property taxes because of a system that favors the ultra-wealthy at our expense. He voted to fix the failed property system, provide seniors with additional tax relief, and give an annual property tax rebate to middle-class and struggling families in our community while ensuring our schools, city services, and health care receive the funding they need.
Ortiz is putting middle-class families first. Ortiz’s plan cuts taxes for 98.4% of people in our district while making ultra-rich billionaires pay their fair share, investing in career training to prepare people for high-wage jobs, and reining in skyrocketing healthcare and prescription drug costs.

Fight for an Economy that Works for All of Us

Ortiz knows our economy is rigged by billionaires and corporate special interests and is fighting to take back power for working families. He is fighting for an economy that works for all of us by demanding the ultra-wealthy pay their fair share and standing up to big insurance and drug companies to demand affordable health care for all. He is fighting to raise wages, eliminate student debt, and to invest in career training to prepare workers for $35 per hour jobs
Illinois’ economy has a serious shortage of workers for jobs paying $35 an hour or more, such as welders, electricians, and carpenters. As a CPS college and career counselor, Ortiz is fighting to restore vocational and technical education courses to our high schools, in order to prepare the next generation for high-wage jobs in our community.

Strong schools lead to strong communities. As an educator and college counselor, no one understands this better than Rep. Aarón Ortíz.
To make the Chicago Public School Board more accountable to taxpayers and our communities, Ortiz stood with teachers and parents to require school board members to be elected, taking back our schools from unaccountable bureaucrats. To strengthen CPS, we must empower parents, lower class sizes, and invest in more social workers and nurses.

As a CPS college and career counselor, Ortiz knows the deck is stacked against students who are forced to take on crippling debt just to get a college education. He is fighting for debt-free college education for students in our public colleges, universities, and trade schools. He voted to create a new scholarship for Illinois students and to expand financial aid for students in need.
The same big banks that pocketed billions of dollars in taxpayer-funded bailouts are now locking Illinois students into a lifetime of college debt. Ortiz knows it’s time Washington politicians stop bailing out Wall Street and start providing real relief to those who need it most, which is why he is standing with students calling for the elimination of student debt.

Rep. Ortíz knows that it's a woman’s right to choose in Illinois and fought to protect funding for Planned Parenthood
Rep. Ortíz is a committed leader in the struggle to end violence against women. He voted to test every rape kit and clear the backlog that has allowed violent predators to escape justice and is investing in domestic violence shelters and in mental and physical healthcare for survivors.
Rep. Ortíz is standing with women against these attacks to demand equal pay, justice for survivors of violence, and access to high-quality health care for all.

Ortiz is standing up to Donald Trump and fighting to protect immigrant families and children in our community. He supports the Illinois DREAM Act to ensure young people from immigrant families can attend college and he strongly supports comprehensive immigration reform that provides a path to citizenship and keeps families together.

Ortiz is outraged that seniors in our community have been forced to bear the burden for Springfield’s mismanagement. He has fought for property tax relief for seniors, to lower prescription drug prices, and successfully defeated reckless cuts to lifesaving medical care for the frail elderly.

Ortiz believes health care is a right, not a privilege. He is taking on the greedy insurance and pharmaceutical companies and fighting to put patients ahead of corporate profits and guarantee high-quality, affordable healthcare for all.

Ortiz is outraged by the crooked self-dealing behavior of politicians who put their own interests ahead of their constituents. He fought a political dynasty and won, and now he’s fighting to strengthen criminal penalties for politicians who commit misconduct, strip pensions from any politician charged with a felony, and crackdown on insider lobbyists who make millions trying to influence government and rig the system for the wealthy and well connected.

Ortiz knows the War on Drugs has harmed disadvantaged communities and communities of color and worked to legalize marijuana in a way that puts social justice first. He worked to pass the most progressive marijuana law in the country, cleaning the record for tens of thousands of people convicted of non-violent marijuana offenses, and creating new opportunities for communities harmed by the drug war, and securing tens of millions in funding for critical services in underserved communities.

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