“Jose Barro, an economist for the Manhattan Institute, told CBS 2 HD that the vat might work if the government agreed to reduce personal income and corporate taxes at the same time.”
The history of taxation in Europe and the history of both the US income tax and SS tax (both of which started out very small on a very small fraction of the population) does not make one optimistic about this prospect.
Indeed the history of government and taxation in western democracies generally illustrates that Americans’ distrust of government is well-placed. Governments inevitably over-promise and under-deliver, meaning that well-intentioned government programs inevitably cost more and deliver less than originally promised. This results in ever-higher levels of taxation.
Ironically, the countries that have adopted the most sensible approach to taxation—flat taxes on consumption—are former communist countries. Once they threw off the chains of totalitarian rule, these countries often adopted flat-tax systems that minimized the burden on the average citizen and inhibited the temptation by government to use the tax system for social engineering—i.e., awarding tax breaks for favored activities or interests.
An organization committed to freedom like the Manhattan Institute should be using its megaphone to resist VAT, not offering rationalizations for its adoption.
I love VAT taxes. It is regressive as hell and gets all the parasites to have to pay!!! They will tell them that they get it back in welfare but they won’t like it and will riot.