El Paso Standard

Rising property taxes in Texas are met with criticism and a call to decrease the burden on the state's citizens.

Property taxes have been on the rise in Texas' 10 most populous cities, according to a report published by the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) in February. The organization is a nonprofit, non-partisan research institute based in Austin. These taxes have risen greatly when considering the preferred rate of growth, which is a combination of inflation plus population growth, the TPPF said. Property tax in all 10 cities, including El Paso, surpassed this preferred rate over the period from 2016 to 2020.

"It’s not a stretch to say that property taxes are out of control in the Lone Star State," James Quintero, a policy director at the TPPF, said in a newsletter dated March 3. "As a result, local governments are getting rich while families are forced to make hard decisions."

The TPPF report noted that property taxes are the largest tax assessed in Texas, so much so that in 2019, nearly 50 percent of all tax dollars collected within the state came from property taxes. There were 4,256 separate property taxing units in Texas during fiscal year 2019, some of which overlap. 

"The laws and systems surrounding Texas’ property tax are notoriously complicated, oftentimes requiring a taxpayer to seek help through consultants, accountants, advocates, and attorneys," the think tank's report said. 

El Paso's property tax grew 51.0 percent, from $256.6 million to $387.4 million, between 2016 and 2020, according to the report. The TPPF underscored the fact that the combined population and inflation for the city grew by 7.7 percent during that time, resulting in a difference of 43.3 percent.

In addition to the Texas Public Policy Foundation numbers, The Balance's website ranked Texas on their top-10 list of states in the U.S. with the highest property tax rates. The median real estate tax paid by Texas residents is $4,065 per year, according to the site.

The Tax Foundation also found that Texas had a high property tax rate when it was measured as a percentage of owner-occupied housing value in 2019. It said that Texas relies heavily on property taxes in lieu of charging under other major tax categories.