Constitutional Amendments up for Vote – November 3rd
Texas voters are facing some Constitutional Amendments up for a vote this week. Early voting ends Friday with Tuesday November 3rd being that actual polling day.
Most of you who know me personally know that I am always a supporter of small government and if you have heard me railing at social gatherings you know that I have very little respect for elected officials in Texas being that most of them barely have a high school education. That being said there are four Propositions on the ballet that I feel Texans should vote in favor. Each of these propositions strengthens owner’s property rights in Texas.
Proposition 2 – David suggests voting FOR
“The constitutional amendment authorizing the legislature to provide for the ad valorem taxation of a residence homestead solely on the basis of the property’s value as a residence homestead”
Voting for Proposition 2 prevents homeowners to be unfairly taxed. When a homestead could have another use this proposition prevents taxing authorities from triggering a higher tax on the property. Many homesteads in Texas are located in commercial and industrial areas. As such the local tax appraisers (that are often drunk on their power to tax) levy a higher tax rate on a homestead. This proposition prevents that from happening.
Proposition 3 – David suggests voting FOR
“The constitutional amendment providing for uniform standards and procedures for the appraisal of property for ad valorem tax purposes”
Across the State there are varying practices and procedures of how local tax appraisers levy taxes. This proposition improves accountability and consistency among appraisal districts. This means that corrupt county governments cannot over tax their residents just to steal more tax money from them.
Proposition 5 – David suggests voting FOR
“The constitutional amendment authorizing the legislature to authorize a single board of equalization for two or more adjoining appraisal entities that elect to provide for consolidated equalizations”
This option would allow adjacent appraisal review boards to pool their resources into one entity serving the whole. It will be a blessing to rural counties in particular because two or more of them could consolidate their appraisal review boards into one appraisal entity allowing them to actually cut an expense in their budgets while at the same time assuring that the most qualified people in a review board are able to apply their knowledge across a wider geographic area.
Proposition 11 – David suggests voting FOR
“The constitutional amendment to prohibit the taking, damaging, or destroying of private property for public use unless the action is for the ownership, use, and enjoyment of the property by the State, a political subdivision of the State, the public at large, or entities granted the power of eminent domain under law or for elimination of urban blight on a particular parcel of property, but not certain economic development or enhancement of tax revenue purposes, and to limit the legislature’s authority to grant the power of eminent domain to an entity”
This proposition protects the property rights of private property owners. It limits the taking of private property through eminent domain processes and prohibits the taking of private property by the State for transfer to a private entity for the use and enjoyment of that private entity. It also mandates that in order for the legislature to grant the power of eminent domain to an entity a vote of 2/3 of the elected members of each house of the legislature must approve this grant. In other words, no longer will big developers be able to use their influence of campaign contributions to get legislatures in their pockets who will work to take private property through the use of eminent domain and transfer that private property to a developer so that the developer can profit from the taking of private property for non-public at large use and enjoyment.
David suggests voting NO on all of the other propositions!
« 525 East Live Oak – Austin, TX 78704 (Travis Heights / SOCO area) | Home | Welcome to Pride of Austin Fund News »
Leave a Comment