Voting Proposition Help!

[Drakkith]

Hey all. Just got my ballot in to vote on some propositions (I vote for Texas legislature) but I'm not sure what one of them really means.

The constitutional amendment providing for the appraisal for ad valorem tax purposes of open space land devoted to water stewardship purposes on the basis of its productive capacity.

I know what an ad valorem tax is, but I have no idea what it means by the "on the basis of it's productive capacity" part. Is this land that's devoted to water stewardship doing some kind of water processing or something? What is the tax currently based off of?

[Danger]

Since you are in the USA and I am not, I can base this only upon my understanding of Yank greed. That, of course, is dependent upon who is in charge. An organisation such as Ducks Unlimited will have a far different approach to the matter than will either the EPA or a real estate developer. The term "water stewardship" implies to me some sort of nature conservation, but I don't know for sure.
In your position, as a caring taxpayer, I would request a clarification in layman's terms before voting.
Just my opinion, since I'm not one of you, but that's what I would do here in Canada.

[AlephZero]

You don't need to know complcated stuff like what an ad valorem tax is.

The proposition means "if this proposition is carried, your politicians will get richer". Exactly the same as every other proposition on the ballot paper.

[Danger]

Do I detect a hint of cynicism?

[AlephZero]

Do I detect a hint of cynicism?

Compare the total expenditure on national election campaigns in the UK and US:

UK 2005: £44m
US 2008: $1601m
UK 2010: £34m

Sources: http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/news-and-media/news-releases/electoral-commission-media-centre/news-releases-donations/parties-spend-31-million-at-uk-general-election
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundraising_for_the_2008_United_States_presidentia l_election

People don't pay that sort of money for nothing, even at the UK's cut-price rates.

[jtbell]

A Google search for "texas ballot propositions 2011" led me to this page:

http://votexas.org/exp-statements-2011.html

which didn't tell me much about the purpose of the proposition, but it did tell me that it it's Proposition 8. A further search for "texas proposition 8" led me to

http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Texas_Water-Stewardship_Tax_Amendment,_Proposition_8_%282011%2 9

which has some more information, including pro and con arguments. The other hits for that search probably have useful information, but I didn't bother pursuing it further because I'm in South Carolina so it's not my ballot.

[Danger]

Aleph, you have got to either work on your sense of humour or quit responding to my jokes. I don't have time to explain them to you.

[Drakkith]

You don't need to know complcated stuff like what an ad valorem tax is.

The proposition means "if this proposition is carried, your politicians will get richer". Exactly the same as every other proposition on the ballot paper.

I don't care what your opinion on politicians is, this isn't the thread about it. If you can't stick to the topic then please don't post.

[Drakkith]

Jtbell that is exactly what I needed! Thanks so much! I tried searching on google, but I guess I didn't type in the right phrase lol.

[Danger]

JT, those are very cool links. I didn't actually read them, since they have no relevance in my life, but I did score enough of a glimpse to realize how appropriate they are to the original question. Nice catch.