[snowsislander]

To make a VAT palatable to the Democrat base, I believe it will have, as other posters have suggested, either

• a "prebate" where a monthly check from the federal government "pre-rebating" the imputed VAT calculated from some baseline, and likely to include a generous "prebate" for each person in a household or
• a VAT exemption card to be presented by the purchaser, much like many states have sales tax exemption papers that can be presented by businesses making purchases for their business.

A VAT generates enormous paperwork compared to a retail sales tax, and a simple retail sales tax is a better idea than an insidious tax like the VAT. However, I am against even a retail sales tax unless the income tax is ended by repealing the 16th Amendment, which I regard as utterly unlikely.

[eclecticEel]

Which does open the question of whether a VAT is even constitutional in the first place as the 16th amendment is specifically about income taxes (not that this administration cares, but perhaps the SC might have something to say about it regardless).