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Old 07-23-2008, 12:27 PM
 
Location: El Paso, TX
5,080 posts, read 9,948,625 times
Reputation: 1105

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Children's hospital to bump up taxes - El Paso Times

I told you all to vote against this Children's Hospital.. Some of you may think this is not all that much to be concerned with, but it all adds up.

If I could sell this house, and move I would.. this is getting insane!
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Old 07-23-2008, 01:10 PM
 
248 posts, read 626,881 times
Reputation: 101
I did vote against it, for the very reason of more taxes, specially when providence has a childrens hospital.... no one listened.... my house is up for sale this weekend, and i'm out.
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Old 07-23-2008, 01:16 PM
 
13,134 posts, read 40,610,038 times
Reputation: 12304
Come over to Southern New Mexico as we have semi low property taxes .
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Old 07-23-2008, 01:16 PM
 
248 posts, read 626,881 times
Reputation: 101
I'm moving to St. Louis.
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Old 07-23-2008, 01:17 PM
 
Location: El Paso, TX
5,080 posts, read 9,948,625 times
Reputation: 1105
I am thinking of moving to Las Cruces, or Alamogordo... if I am needed to stay close. If not.. I maybe heading out to the coast soon. This is a bit too much even for me.
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Old 07-23-2008, 01:22 PM
 
Location: Where I live.
9,191 posts, read 21,868,965 times
Reputation: 4934
Quote:
Originally Posted by 6/3 View Post
Come over to Southern New Mexico as we have semi low property taxes .
Heck, Harry, you can't imagine how much cheaper they are than in TX, especially EP.

One of the homes I was looking at in Laborcita Canyon was a nice brick with almost 10 acres.....the taxes listed were under $900/year.

When the home is sold, the taxes will change and go up, but they probably won't escalate too terribly much.

The outrageously high property taxes, along with the crazy traffic are the two main reasons I bypassed a city I have loved in the past...in favor of southern NM. I still love EP, but the taxes are just a scalping. There is no real reason for them to be as high as they are there, IMHO.

I thought my taxes in Midland were high? I didn't have any idea how much better off we were in Midland, LOL!!!
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Old 07-23-2008, 01:53 PM
 
13,134 posts, read 40,610,038 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cathy4017 View Post
Heck, Harry, you can't imagine how much cheaper they are than in TX, especially EP.

One of the homes I was looking at in Laborcita Canyon was a nice brick with almost 10 acres.....the taxes listed were under $900/year.

When the home is sold, the taxes will change and go up, but they probably won't escalate too terribly much.

The outrageously high property taxes, along with the crazy traffic are the two main reasons I bypassed a city I have loved in the past...in favor of southern NM. I still love EP, but the taxes are just a scalping. There is no real reason for them to be as high as they are there, IMHO.

I thought my taxes in Midland were high? I didn't have any idea how much better off we were in Midland, LOL!!!

Great points Cathy !! Probably do to we have a state income tax as to why property taxes are lower? and besides nothing gets fixed in Alamo....lol....
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Old 07-23-2008, 02:30 PM
 
248 posts, read 626,881 times
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this is interesting, because the defense of el paso's high taxes is that texas does not have a state income tax, but yet, the property taxes are not as high as they are in el paso in other parts of the very same state. so now, again, why is it that el paso property taxes are so high? i can't figure it out.
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Old 07-23-2008, 03:36 PM
 
5,976 posts, read 15,264,045 times
Reputation: 6710
Default I'll tell you at least a couple of reasons why...

Quote:
Originally Posted by alikat1205 View Post
this is interesting, because the defense of el paso's high taxes is that texas does not have a state income tax, but yet, the property taxes are not as high as they are in el paso in other parts of the very same state. so now, again, why is it that el paso property taxes are so high? i can't figure it out.
Subsidizing the lives of illegal immigrants to an extent; high dropout rates, and few large employers with deep pockets. Several years ago, when Democrats were the majority in office in Texas, they passed a Robin Hood plan to fund schools.

You have economies and businesses that contribute greatly to their respective school districts, or 'rich' schools as they were referred to. They even have excess money. The Democrats decided to take that revenue and give it to poorer school districts.

One such district with lots of money, and low school tax is Deer Park ISD in Pasadena, TX. You have a school district that also happens to be home to some of the worlds largest oil refineries and chemical plants. Shell Oil Company alone pays an exhorbanant amount to the school district, that's not including the other majors. So they have excess cash. In Houston there are also very many upscale neighborhoods, they pay taxes to their local districts who also have excess money like Katy ISD. More on this later...

Well, a few years ago, the Robin Hood plan was ruled unconstitutional in Texas. 'Didn't bother the Democrats in power, they knew that, but did it anyway. So the counties were back to square one on how to fund their school districts. What you see happening in El Paso, and other poorer counties in Texas is the result.

There was an article recently about a high school close to my home, Taylor High School. They had a fund raiser to collect money and donate it to one of the high school bands in El Paso so they could buy musical instruments. I got a lot teasing on that one at the office, but I pointed out that those kids had good hearts, and were fortunate to not be in need of anythnig, and be able to contribute. 'Shut them up quick.

But back to the taxes; school districts get 'paid' according to how many students they have. If they have a large dropout rate, they loose money. It all adds up, about $14K per student, but I am not certain. The schools have to make up the loss, and so you are taxed. Also, if you have a lot of students who don't belong (illegal immigrants), you have to pay for their ESL classes, special tutoring, etc. What makes it worse, their parents sometimes don't have valid SSN, or get paid in cash, so they do not contribute, which means more tax burden on the rest of us.

Now about the wealthy schools... you will never hear one say they have excess! They cleverly hide this by always increasing their budget to show that they are under budget. And the worse, perverse ploy they use against you is the voting on bonds.

The teacher's union absolutely will fight to the death in order to stop the state from requiring that their bond initiatatives make it on the general election ballots. Why? Because they know that if they put it on the ballot when people normally vote, they would get turned down. Instead they do it on off cycles, when it's almost guaranteed that people will not vote, except the teachers that is. So they always vote themselves more money! 'Sorry to offend you teachers, but it is what it is. I see through it, so do other smart people who know what's going on.

Okay, sorry for the rant...

I hope that answers your question as to why some cities don't have as high tax rate as El Paso. 'Want change? VOTE!
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Old 07-23-2008, 03:49 PM
 
Location: Where I live.
9,191 posts, read 21,868,965 times
Reputation: 4934
Quote:
Originally Posted by 6/3 View Post
Great points Cathy !! Probably do to we have a state income tax as to why property taxes are lower? and besides nothing gets fixed in Alamo....lol....
Boy, just had to remind me, didn't you, LOL?!?

Hopefully things are slowly changing.
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