The Texas comptroller of public accounts published a report titled “Your Money and the Taxing Facts”. The report discusses taxes in Texas.
One subject her report addresses is local property taxes in 2010. The breakdown was provided with four categories:
Entity % of local total statewide
Cities 16.78
Counties 16.31
Special districts* 13.38
School districts 53.52
*these include hospital and community college districts
Not us
I was surprised to see that:
Our city takes 25.26% of our local property taxes compared with the 16.78% cities take on the average statewide.
Our county is right in line at 16.13% compared with 16.31% for counties statewide.
Our special districts are at 12.61%, thus under the statewide average of 13.38%
And for those of us in the El Paso Independent School District we are paying 45.99% in school taxes compared with 53.52% in the remainder of the state.
Vote for change
Some at the city have called us “crazies” for being concerned about their spending habits.
These numbers need to be justified or they need to be changed.
The simple facts are that we spend almost 8% less of our local tax money on education and almost 9% more on our city government than the rest of the state.
If no other numbers call us to action, these should. The fact that we have the 7th highest tax burden of people in the largest 50 cities in the United States should have been enough to call us to action. The fact that we are short changing our children and feathering the city’s nest is just wrong.
We deserve better
Brutus
elpasospeak 
As soon as the school districts call for a tax increase, listen for the howls from the “crazies.” Most popular phrase now: “I don’t have kids in school, why should I pay for that?”
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Dawg;
I don’t have kids in school but I understand that public education is part of a civilized society. If you hear me howl, it is because I abhor it that corruption steals my tax dollar and cronyism directs it to the benefit of the few rather than the many. Both are ingrained traditions here.
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Let’s be clear. We’re not feathering the city’s nest. We’re feathering the nests of some who work for the city and certain special interests, who reap the benefits from how tour public entities spend our money. Yes, our money.
This is a pervasive problem in our community. We now have the highest hotel tax in the state. City council also continues to give tax breaks to special people, but never to the average taxpayer.
University Medical Center’s highly paid executives have mismanaged UMC and now want to increase taxes, while they sit on millions of dollars in reserves. Lower level UMC employees — those who actually do the work — have been terminated. Meanwhile, the highly paid CEO still has his job. How is that prudent or just?
I just learned today that Susie Byrd is the spokesperson for the debt-laden Children’s Hospital. That is proof once again of the incestuousness and wasteful ways of our public organizations. Who is paying her fees? Why doesn’t the highly paid CEO speak for that entity instead of hiding behind a former city council rep.
It’s all quite disgusting to say the least. It’s time to get out the pitchforks and light the torches.
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