McConnell: Amendment would require government to rein in spending
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If South Carolina is to have an orderly, predictable, and consistent growth rate in state spending, this can only be accomplished on a lasting basis by constitutionally mandating it. It cannot be accomplished on a reliable basis by hanging on to slim majorities in the Legislature and having the right governor. The political pressures are too great unless there is a constitutional bridle on the process. That is the reason I created a task force to consider the constitutional amendment that I introduced last year that would cap the growth in spending by the state. The first meeting of the Senate Study Committee on constitutionally capping state government spending is scheduled for Oct. 24 at 1 p.m. in Room 105 of the Gressette Building in Columbia.There will always be more needs than revenue no matter what the economic times and the amount of available new funds. Government must, therefore, temper its conduct to spend so that, over the highs and lows in revenue forecasts, the necessary revenue will be there to fund essential needs without pressure for new taxes. When government is flush with money, the spending goes up to fund many new initiatives — some good, some questionable, and some not good. In other words, projects get funded not so much out of merit but merely because the money was available. Some one-time expenditures also occur the same way.
In the face of a bountiful taxpayer buffet, government cannot control its appetite so its stomach must be stapled. At stake is the need to at least control the rate of growth in the recurring base. Thusly, I have introduced a constitutional amendment to cap the rate of spending of state government. Government would be limited to growth at an amount that would not exceed the rate of population growth plus the growth in personal income. Basically, government should not grow any bigger than it needs to be or any faster than people’s ability to pay for it.
I have been an ardent supporter of Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan, and I believe that government is best which governs least. I also believe that as much money as possible is best left in the hands of people if we are to advance economically.
If people keep more, they have greater opportunities to invest and spend so our economy will expand. It is a matter of fairness. If there are surpluses in Columbia, these should not expand the obligation to fund a growing government but instead be used to reduce long-term debt and obligations, to fund capital projects to avoid issuing costly bonds, to cover one-time costs, to save and carry forward for a rainy day, and/or to fund tax refunds and tax cuts.
The constitutional amendment, as proposed, will foster growth in the private sector, challenge legislators to prioritize spending better, to seek better efficiencies in the operation of government, and to privatize operations where it is in the state’s best interest. New opportunities to create rainy day funds, to replenish trust funds that too often have been tapped to fuel the insatiable appetite of government in lean times created by overspending in good times, and to create a more debt free South Carolina will be presented.
Finally, we all must realize that our state government, just as much as any business, has to be competitive in order to attract and retain jobs.
We need to provide essential services, but we need to do it in a way that ensures excellence, efficiency and long-term cost control. Throwing dollars at an agency does not ensure that it will be better. Limiting the growth in spending ensures that the challenge for each budgeting year is to do more with what we have available rather than to spend more to get the job done.
Working together, we can give the people of South Carolina an opportunity to vote on whether they want this limitation on the growth of spending. The limitation, if adopted, would ensure our future is not one of ups and downs based on political fortunes but instead one of predictability and orderliness in the growth of South Carolina.
Glenn McConnell is president pro-tempore of the South Carolina Senate.
This op-ed ran in the Post and Courier on Friday, October 19, 2007.
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