The most effective way to eliminate waste in government is to impose an effective cap on spending. I helped design the Taxpayer Bill of rights (TABOR) Amendment, which was incorporated in the Colorado Constitution through citizen initiative in 1992. TABOR caps the rate of growth in revenue and spending at all levels of government in Colorado. If any unit of government wants to spend revenue above the cap, increase taxes, or issue more debt, it must have citizen approval. The ballot measure must show how the revenue would be raised and spent, and how much it would cost taxpayers. Hundreds of such measures have been proposed in Colorado. Most of these measures pass at the local level, but very few have passed at the state level. TABOR allows Colorado citizens to decide how much government they want and are willing to pay for, and remains the gold standard for tax and expenditure limits in the states. Over the years, interest groups have attempted to eliminate or water down TABOR, but the majority of Colorado citizens continue to reject these efforts.

As a candidate for the No Labels Party, I would propose a Fiscal Responsibility Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, similar to the TABOR Amendment. The amendment could be proposed in Congress, or by the states under Article V of the Constitution. Given debt fatigue in Congress, the most likely path to enacting the Fiscal Responsibility Amendment is through resolutions in the states calling for an amendment convention.

[Well, good luck with that, Mr. Poulson, whoever you are. He’s correct about the need to address spending through an Article V convention. Despite all of the hyperventilating over such a step, any constitutional amendments reported out of the convention would still require ratification by 38 states. About the only two issues that might get that much consensus support would be term limits for the House and Senate, and a balanced-budget amendment, neither of which has a prayer of getting approval from Congress first. — Ed]