A dispute over tax breaks for an upscale shopping center has grown into a constitutional showdown that Texas voters will be asked to settle Tuesday.

Opponents say the measure would continue a trend of rich corporations bullying cities and states into giving them millions of dollars in taxpayer money by threatening to take their business elsewhere.

Proposition 3 has its roots in the Village of Bee Cave, a fast-growing suburb of Austin. Town officials agreed to pay developers of a shopping center part of the sales taxes generated at the shopping center - up to nearly $21 million - over 15 years.

An Austin environmental group called Save Our Springs Alliance sued to block the deal, fearing construction along a creek would harm Barton Springs and the Edwards Aquifer.

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