grammar - how should several "and"s without any punctuation be understood?

How should this long sentence with multiple "and"s

Property taxes and other local taxes and state taxation and spending may not be ... .

be understood? Notice, there is no punctuation near the occurrences of "and" (actual text is Article IX § 25 of the Michigan Constitution).

Should each item between the "and" be treated completely separate from all the other items?

• Property taxes may not be ...


• Other local taxes may not be ...


• State taxation may not be ...


• Spending may not be ...

Or, do you group the "and"s in the only way that can be uniformly done:

{Property taxes and other local taxes} and {state taxation and spending} may not be ...

or, perhaps slightly different

{Property taxes and other local taxes} and state {taxation and spending} may not be ...

What punctuation might be added to make a particular reading more clear? (Of course, legally, that can't be done; but it could help make the case for a certain understanding over another.)

Answer

As with all such ambiguities, the proper interpretation is multiple: it is the union of all possible reasonable interpretations. As an interpreter, you get to choose what interpretations occur to you and which you think are reasonable.

IOW, it means whatever it could possibly mean, whatever people might understand or misunderstand by it. Nothing more or less.

If you want something that has less ambiguity then you need to write more clearly. Commas help sometimes. Splitting sentences helps sometimes. And so on.

If you want to ask a more specific question, one that, for example, asks for some possible (mis)interpretations of a given phrase or sentence, then please do. But throwing a sentence out there that clearly (as you yourself note) has multiple interpretations and asking what it means is asking for the answer I stated in the first paragraph.