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El Pasoans struggle with increasing property taxes, Gov. Abbott announces new relief plan

Increasing property taxes are among the top priorities for the state, according to the governor, and El Pasoans said they've had to sacrifice a lot with costs going up every year. 

In his State of the State Address on Sunday night, Governor Gregg Abbott announced property tax cut relief as an emergency item for the 89th legislation. 

He said he wants to prevent cities and counties from finding loopholes to increase property taxes for Texas homeowners.  

"But for many Texans, those cuts were wiped out by local taxing authorities that hiked your property taxes even more. That must end this session," said Abbott. 

In the last session, Texas legislature provided $18 billion for tax cut relief -- the largest amount during Abbott's time in office.

The governor now says he wants to use at least $10 billion more from the state budget for relief this session. 

One teacher said she inherited her mother's property and didn't want to lose her childhood home. Now she says she can't afford to grow her family. 

"So it's interesting cause right now we were talking in the car and we're like, baby, should we have that second child? He doesn't have any biological children," said Esther Zapata, a homeowner. "I am a single mom from a previous relationship, and right now it's like, is it feasible to have a family, to create a family?"

"I don't want to give them my right to own a home," Zapata added. "I understand the importance of paying this property taxes, but at the same time, I think there's an abuse of power when it comes to how they're utilizing our property taxes."

Another couple said that their taxes went from $2,100 to $2,900. They also had to make a tough decision that would affect their children. 

"Well, it's been real rough because it's been harder to buy groceries with with the money that we've gotten increased on, it went up almost $800 of what we used to pay," said homeowners Destiny Perez and Ivan Ortega. "A lot of sacrifices, making the kids, getting older kids out of the sports and all of that. An extra expense."

The governor also said that no local taxing authority should be allowed to raise property taxes without getting two-thirds of approval from voters. 

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Nicole Ardila

Nicole Ardila is a multimedia journalist.

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