Tom Tancredo: “in Colorado, we passed several years ago, I think it was 1994, we passed something referred to as the Tabor amendment.…”

“in Colorado, we passed several years ago, I think it was 1994, we passed something referred to as the Tabor amendment. It simply says that the government of the State of Colorado cannot spend more than it takes in, nor can it increase taxes by any more than a percentage equivalent of increase in population growth and inflation. That is it. If we take in more money than that formula allows, it must be returned to the people. Now, first of all, during the course of that debate, we heard the same kind of things from the people opposing it as we heard from the people who are worried about this 1 percent savings that we are proposing here, that it could not happen, that government cannot operate under such constraints, that there would, in fact, be people out in the street, there would be people hungry at night, that essentially it would be the end of civilization as we know it. Well, we passed this in 1994. Every single tax increase above that budget cap that is set now in the Constitution allowing growth only for population and inflation, and inflation has been very low, every budget increase at any level, State of Colorado, local districts, special districts, whatever, has to go to a vote of the people.”