JB Pritzker on the Fight Over AI, Housing, and Taxes

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**Scott Galloway** (1:21)
Today's number, $400,000. That's how much Hugh Hefner paid for the original Playboy Mansion in Chicago. Ed, what's more disturbing? What was more disturbing for me than finding a stack of Playboys in my father's basement?

**Ed Elson** (1:38)
What's that?

**Scott Galloway** (1:40)
Realizing one of them was still breathing. Hello, Chicago!
All right, that didn't work. Want a dick joke? Okay, this is an old one, it was my favorite, Speaking of Sons, where he's at that age where it's time for the sex talk. So I went into his room with a banana and a condom. I can't believe we have the governor here. Anyway.
And he goes, What's the banana for? And I'm like, I can't get hard on an empty stomach.

**Ed Elson** (2:30)
We are here in Illinois, where some of the nation's biggest debates are playing out at the state level. The AI boom, for example, has created a lot of opportunity, but also a lot of resentment, particularly towards data centers, many of which are being built right here in Illinois. At the same time, Illinoisans are concerned about social media and its impacts on mental health, as well as the state's housing shortage, which has led to higher prices, much like what we've seen across the rest of America. Few leaders sit closer to these issues than our next guest, who has spent the past several years guiding the state through them. Since he was first elected in 2018, he passed several historic bills, such as raising the minimum wage.
We are big fans of that, and guaranteeing paid leave for every worker in Illinois. Before politics, he helped create more than 14,000 jobs through his non-profit work, and today, he is emerging as one of the most prominent voices in the Democratic Party. So without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome your governor, JB Pritzker.
Well, it's great to have you here. Thank you so much for joining us. We want to get right into it. I would love to start with a question about the Illinois state budget, which was literally just approved last night. Is that right?

**JB Pritzker** (4:27)
At about 4.3 in the morning.

**Ed Elson** (4:28)
4.3 in the morning. So he's had his rest, he's feeling good.
So I just want to start with a couple of things that stood out to us when we were looking at that budget. The first was a social media tax. Illinois is gonna tax social media platforms 50 cents per user per month. And the second thing we found interesting was a prediction markets tax. Prediction markets operators will be taxed 50% on their earnings from residents. We can get into the budget itself, but I just want to get your views on those two taxes. Why did you pursue them and how will this all play out?

**JB Pritzker** (5:01)
So to be clear, this is not a tax on people who are using social media. This is literally on the platforms. As many of you know, the social media companies are taking real advantage. Their algorithms are taking advantage of our kids in particular. We've had significant mental health challenges across the country as a result of the work that they do at these social media companies, and not to mention the effects on all of us. And so we decided that they should have to pay for some of the effects that they're having on our children. And so we devised this social media platform fee. And again, you talked about how it gets applied, but it's about $200 million.