Posted on 11/17/2010 11:37:36 AM PST by Zeddicus
Confirming once again that the clueless government would rather risk a populist backlash than actually cutting costs (recall that federal worker compensation has surged in the past 5 years), it appears that the long-stirring debate over a value added tax may be about to materialize into something tangible. Per Bloomberg, "Alice Rivlin, a member of President Barack Obama’s deficit-reduction commission (and former Fed vice chairwoman), is trying to stir a debate over imposing a national sales tax to reduce the deficit. Rivlin, as part of a separate 19-member group sponsored by the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, offered a plan for a 6.5 percent national debt-reduction sales tax. Her recommendation comes as the president’s panel prepares a Dec. 1 report of options for Congress to trim the national debt." Coming from a former Fed member, this is not all that surprising - after all, there is nothing to stir inflation expectations like a sudden 6.5% hike in all prices.
(Excerpt) Read more at zerohedge.com ...
NFW.
Of course the federal tax system will not be touched.
Either I’m a dumbass or the writer of this column is. What was proposed was a 6.5% sales tax. That is WAY WAY different than a VAT tax.
I don’t like either one but the two are nowhere even close to one another.
Okay, so we pay a 6.5% VAT tax and spending goes up by more than the revenue from the tax and the deficit gets bigger.
Before any tax increases let’s talk about real cuts in government spending at all levels. Not just a reduction in the growth rate of spending, but a reduction in total expenditures and outlays.
Way! Ask any European country - they have all got it despite "NFW" in unison and separately.
Agree, not with a GOP house.
Not likely!
the end result is the same: A 6.5% increase in prices.
Cap-and-Tax, Illegal Immigrant Amnesty, Card Check/Compulsory Union membership, VAT, you name it, Nancy will git 'er done.
And when she does, about 5 million of us need to drop everything and converge upon the mall in Washington within 24 hours.
We'll figure out what to do next when we get there.
They´re going to try and ram this through before Christmas? Then where´s our conservative Congress?
I recall seeing Rivlin on PBS stating that “most Americans favor a ‘progressive’ income tax” schedule.
I can’t stand these liberal financial engineers.
Only an iddy biddy 6.5%? Wait until it gets to 20% (you will not have to wait long) AND YOUR INCOME TAXES STAY WHERE THEY ARE NOW! In Europe, retailers are not allowed to quote the VAT as a separate item.
Remember how you thought European prices were 50% higher than back home when you tokk that vacation over there? Now you know why. Welcome to Socialism.
While the federal government is pouring billions of dollars down a rathole where it disappears without a trace? Will the American people tolerate it?
The dirty deed being done is the failure of the state of Illinois to send their newly elected GOP Senator to replace the disgraced apointee Burris in time for him to be part of the Senate for this lame duck session.
The GOP should fillibuster EVERYTHING in the Senate until he is seated.
Honestly, if Pelosi pushes this through I'm not sure what we can do except help the Senate GOP fillibuster. That's the only tool that lies between sanity and Socialist Hell.
If they do this the GOP House should PUNISH those involved, harshly, in the next session. We should go to all out war with every pet program of Pelosi excised, Democratic constituencies and states screwed out of every dollar of taxes and just, in general, show that cheating will be dealt with harshly.
NOTHING would surprise me....
Their idea is to totally destroy this country. Nothing to be acted on until after January.
Of course. The current tax system is their cash cow. They’ll never give that up.
And you can bet that it will quickly increase from 6.5%. If they were smart, they would start with 1% and then crank it up from there.
Five million of us outside their front door might give them pause.
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