As if our property tax were not high enough already, yesterday our City Council voted 6-2, under agenda item 7, to raise our City property tax by about $83 for the average El Paso home ($167,000).
Our City tax rate will be lowered from 90.7 cents per $100 of valuation to 86.2 cents, but because of the 13.3% increase in property valuations, El Pasoans still face a major tax hike.
In order to avoid raising taxes, the City would have to lower our tax rate to 82.3 cents, as Vic Kolenc of the El Paso Times reported. See also El Paso Matters, the Oligarchy Gazette, and KFOX.
Despite the truth, the City recently issued a press release titled “City of El Paso Approves Largest Tax Rate Reduction in More than 35 years.”
Have you ever seen a bigger load of horse manure?
Reps. Salcido and Rodriguez voted against the new tax rate, ostensibly because it was not low enough, but they are up for reelection. Enough said…
The City also plans to place $273 million in bond propositions on the ballot, which would raise our tax even more if approved by the voters.
So once again, the politicians lie and the taxpayers get fleeced.