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El Paso Taxpayers: Pay Up

Same song, different verse. Like taxpayers around the state, the people of El Paso are getting hit hard by their city council with an 8.4 percent increase in property taxes. The reason? “We don't have enough police officers,” according to the El Paso Times. Translation: Pay higher taxes, or the rapists will be dropped off in your neighborhood.

Costly Proposed New Bond Would Push Denton ISD Toward State Cap

The Dentodentn ISD school board has announced it will ask voters to approve a $282 million new bond initiative in November. Interestingly, $2 million of the proposal has nothing to do with students – it is to build a child care center for district employees. If this bond measure is approved, the tax bill of a $150,000 home would rise an estimated $48 to $75 a year, according to the district.

The Taxman Cometh

Do you hear that knocking at your door? It’s the taxman, and he wants more money. Pay up. It’s bad enough that appraisal creep and unrestrained spending is taking a bigger and bigger bite out of taxpayers’ take-home pay, but now comes word that local governments want an even bigger bite out of your bank account.

Newspaper: Never, Never, Never Cut Taxes

Newspaper: Never, Never, Never Cut Taxes

Josef Stalin and Vladimir Lenin would be proud of their ideological progeny at the San Antonio Express-News. The long-dead communists, whose utopian Soviet state collapsed in disrepute and bankruptcy after an 80-year experiment in tyranny,  focused on the collective good (as they defined it) outweighing any claim of individual liberty or economic prosperity.

Well, the San Antonio Express-News is opposed a proposed city “roll-back” of property taxes (even though it is less than 1 percent). They say that “individuals benefit from the collective good” (a line no doubt from their Karl Marx quote-of-the-day calendar), and the collective good is defined as growing government to consume every resource possible.

Austin Apparatchiks Have Waste and Nepotism in Store for Taxpayers

For those outside Austin, there have been a flurry of reports lately illustrating cityswhy Austin is known as the People's Republic of Travis County.  The City Council is considering banning plastic bags from stores and they gave a $750,000 forgivable loan to a politically connected Mexican restaurant, Las Manitas.  Now here's another big enchilada on the taxpayer dime – the latest report is that the City has been running a souvenier store in City Hall at a loss of $250,000 per year to taxpayers. 

Got Tax Relief? Not In Houston…

So you think you’re getting tax relief? If you live in Houston, chances are you are not. The school district there are doing everything they can to reach into your family’s pocket-book and exact every last dollar they can.

Property Tax Appraisals Skyrocket from Metroplex to Killeen

In Dallas County, total property values are up 16 percent, with about half of that attributable to increases on existing properties, according to a Dallas Morning News report.

appAlthough Collin County has not posted 2007 average home values yet, the Dallas Morning News reports that total appraisals are up 47 percent in Celina , 38.9 percent in Prosper, and 30.3 percent in Melissa, all of which are in the northern part of the county. Assuming half is due to new construction, that is still 15 to 24 percent increases in average home value.

Hitchcock and Galveston Engulfed by Rising Tide of Property Taxes

If you've ever been to Hitchcock, which is situated in the shadows of Texas hitchCity and its effusive refineries, despite the proximity to the Gulf of Mexico, you might be forgiven for not having thought you were in Palm Beach. Hitchcock may not seem like a ritzy resort rolling in money, but don't tell that to the Galveston County Tax Appraiser. It turns out that property values in Hitchcock are increasing by 27.41 percent this year, according to a Galveston Daily News report.