North Dakota votes 'no' on ending property tax

Voters in North Dakota, where the economy is swelling with money from the oil boom, are going to the polls Tuesday to possibly get rid of property tax in the state.

From the Associated Press:

Stories dot the media describing shale development as booms that have transformed the economies of North Dakota and Pennsylvania. That broad portrait gets badly wrong the impacts of shale development on the economies of the two states. Simply put, Pennsylvania is not North Dakota. North Dakota has a population of 699,628, while Pennsylvania's is 12,763,536 or about 18 times larger. quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/38000.html and quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/42000.html.

America's premier state has led the country in "shovel-ready" job growth without any stimulus money:

Governor Bob McDonnell is a shining example of why Virginians are fed up with politicians in both parties.

Things are a bit lopsided in North Dakota when it comes to collecting tax revenues from the state's explosive oil boom. The state government — headquartered of course, in the city of Bismarck — collects a full 89 percent, while local communities take the paltry remains. Here's the table from Montana-based Harvest Economics, with three other states' breakdowns shown for comparison:

Photographer Alec Soth recently traveled to the Bakken oil fields in North Dakota to shoot a cover story for the New York Times magazine. Now he and director Isaac Gale have published a short video documentary, "Sweet Crude Man Camp," depicting some of the less sunny aspects of living and working in the middle of an oil boom.

On Tuesday voters in California went the wrong way on three propositions. Voters approved Proposition 30 "temporarily" increasing the state sales tax and income tax on individuals making over $250,000. They voted against Proposition 31 that would allow the governor to cut the budget in fiscal emergencies. They voted against Proposition 32 would prevent unions from making campaign donations via members' dues.