Tax burden shifting to homeowners in El Paso

(01/04/2005)  According to analysis, the property tax burden is shifting from commercial taxpayers to residential taxpayers in El Paso. As home valuations increase and other types of valuation decrease, homeowners are forced to pay more taxes and thus more of the total burden.

A majority, or 53.6 percent, of the tax base of $21.7 billion is represented by residential taxpayers. In 2001, homeowners were only paying 49.8 percent.

This shift can be attributed to the value of industrial equipment and machinery which has gone down from 10 percent of the tax base to 5.8 percent.

In comparison to 2001, El Paso’s 2004 tax roll shows the total appraised value of single-family homes rising 21 percent to $11.6 billion while industrial values fell $679 million to total $1.3 billion, a decrease of 35 percent.

In several urban counties across the state of Texas, the trend is continuing as homeowners are forced to share more of the tax burden with commercial taxpayers. Harris County has seen the shift as single-family home values have gone from 35 percent of the tax base to 43 percent, an increase of $40 billion on the tax roles.

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