More taxes are on the way. The new idea floating around is a Value Added Tax (VAT) to pay for health care.
Once Considered Unthinkable, U.S. Sales Tax Gets Fresh Look
With budget deficits soaring and President Obama pushing a trillion-dollar-plus expansion of health coverage, some Washington policymakers are taking a fresh look at a money-making idea long considered politically taboo: a national sales tax.
Common around the world, including in Europe, such a tax — called a value-added tax, or VAT — has not been seriously considered in the United States. But advocates say few other options can generate the kind of money the nation will need to avert fiscal calamity.
At a White House conference earlier this year on the government’s budget problems, a roomful of tax experts pleaded with Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner to consider a VAT. A recent flurry of books and papers on the subject is attracting genuine, if furtive, interest in Congress. And last month, after wrestling with the White House over the massive deficits projected under Obama’s policies, the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee declared that a VAT should be part of the debate.
“There is a growing awareness of the need for fundamental tax reform,” Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) said in an interview. “I think a VAT and a high-end income tax have got to be on the table.”
This is a regressive tax and would hurt Middle and Working Class families. This combined with Cap and Trade would continue the deterioration of America’s standard of living. Outsourced jobs, Stagnant wages combined with a VAT plus with Cap and Trade on top would be a nightmare for the average American. It is sad to see a nation commit economic suicide. Globalization and Marxism have both failed, why continue down one or both of these paths.
Tags: Cap and Trade, Globalization, Marxism, VAT
