Speaking of city taxes, take a look at this slide from one of the presentations to city council:
Are they proud of the fact that Dallas has been able to stay basically flat with their tax rate and Austin has been decreasing their tax rate while we have suffered a 33% increase in taxes?
Why would they present a slide with two cities that make our city government look bad?
We deserve better
Brutus
elpasospeak 
They have always made efforts to compare us favorably to cities like Dallas and Austin, because we always lag way behind them (I used to say that El Paso is only about 20 years behind the rest of Texas), so maybe some idiot thought that he had finally stumbled on an area where we lead those two bigger and better cities?
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El Taxo cannot “Compare” to Dallas, Austin or any where else in the entire state of Texas. Maybe they can compare to San Francisco, New York, but even that is doubtful? El Taxo has the highest taxes in the entire country. All this with NO job market, only menial jobs, NO economy. The ONLY jobs here are the Military, civilians at Ft Bliss, Federal employees, CBP, Border Patrol, Federal Prosecutors, Judges. And of course the “Idle RICH”, politicians, Public Officials who are nothing more than leaches on the ass of the POOR, bleeding the Taxpayers. Happiness was El Taxo in the rear view mirror, 2 months ago when I sold my home of 30 years and escaped the Democrat oppression. Military Retirees, any Retiree(??) can’t survive here with the high taxes and constant increases.
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Why would they present a slide with two cities that make our city government look bad?
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It might be hard to find a comparable size city as poorly managed as ours.
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I’d like to think this slide represents someone in the city trying to show the insanity and unsustainability of what they are doing. But, sadly I suspect they are likely using it to demonstrate that EP is leading the state in leveraging its tax base for public spending. Is there an award for robbing taxpayers of hard earned money? If so, our city is clearly well-positioned to win it.
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They think it justifies giving away more money to “expand the tax base.” They give free rides to the same entities they say will contribute to a bigger tax base. The city and county continue to give away millions upon millions of dollars in potential tax revenue to corporate interests through tax breaks and they continue to give away collected revenue through spending on things that benefit a few business people. The giveaways just keep getting bigger and bolder as is always the case in crime and public corruption.
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My favorite part when this issue comes up is that although indeed our tax rate is higher, we are reminded we pay less out of pocket because of our lower valuation values. Me personally I would rather pay more in taxes because my valuation is increasing than because the rate is increased annually with little regard to homeowner. BTW, shouldn’t we want to be one of those cities where valuation increases by double digits. Wonder whose job it is to spur economic development and growth?
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Gus, haven’t you heard? Malls, bankrupt IFly, Top Golf, Ruth Chris and Great Wolf are economic development. Never mind that disposable income is so finite that every new store kills an old store and that the tax incentives we give wipe out any tax revenue they could have provided. We are creating a tourist Mecca for the wealthy in Chihuahua who will come to our area, shop and file manifestos to get a refund on their sales taxes. But the folks invested in the new stores and tax-abated entertainment complexes will make money with little financial risk. Plus folks owning construction companies are making a ton of money between these projects and the quality of life projects we are obligated to build. And fun fact, a few of these folks (who own construction companies and developer shopping areas) are making money on everything. So, stop complaining about the fact that a small group of folks with a very flawed vision are lining their pockets at our expense. You are anti-progress.
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