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Posted on 05/27/2009 5:38:44 AM PDT by GreaterSwiss
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."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Not to mention most cities & states are increasing taxes too...
There will be a large number of folks renaming themselves John Galt.
Yes
Government already knows all too well how to make money. That’s the problem.
They have no idea how to create wealth, only how to destroy it.
In the end, spending will have to be cut (just like in California).
The government will never have enough of our money. Taxes will always go up.
What's left of our freedoms will vanish.
It's just a matter of time.
Why should I listen to Rahm Emanuel’s brother? Are we getting extended families in the Administration now? That’s okay for third-World dictatorships.
Just last night I was talking to my neighbor and told him that today more Americans want a cold bowl of gruel handed to them by the government than to have to go out and cook a fat steak for themselves. It is so sad, but that sentiment is deepening in our national consciousness.
Folks, the upcoming political fault line is between government employees and the private sector employees. This proposed VAT is meant to feed the government unions beast. The ONLY way to turn this country around is to make massive cuts in the number of government employees, along with their bennies. And it will take citizen scrutiny to make sure the cuts are in the fat, and not in the sectors of government that actually do something useful, such as police and fire and military and border security. Otherwise, we're just going to become the United States of Argentina.
Lots of nice apartments in Dubai, and lots of consumers in India and China.
Love the VAT idea. ONLY people who BUY THINGS pay it.
We sure don’t need an economic recovery that is predicated on people BUYING THINGS and CREATING JOBS - do we?
John Galt clears his throat.
A better plan is the FairTax — see www.fairtax.org
This calls for repeal of the federal income tax, closing down the IRS. Instead, we would have a national retail sales tax on services and new goods (not used goods). There would be no taxes deducted from payroll (including no Social Security tax and no Medicare tax). A system of “prebates” paid monthly would level the playing field for those with low incomes. Some 60,000 pages of IRS rules, regulations, instructions and forms would be trashed.
The national sales tax would be collected by the States, using their existing mechanisms.
The FairTax would result in unprecedented economic growth.
Some of the time I am of the opinion that we should encourage the government to do even more foolish things with the idea in mind that the sooner they break they system totally, the sooner we can get on with the rebuilding.
Then I think of how many will perish and I reconsider.
This is absurd. Someone stop the merry go round I want off.
They would certainly notice a VAT tax if enacted, but by then it would be harder to do anything about it.
Post of the day!
Fine, no more income tax and go with a VAT tax.
I would rather 100% of people pay than 50% anyway, and watching the election results after they did it would be fun to see.
Exactly. Want to kill a consumer-led recovery? Raise prices by 10%.
Doh!
The government is corrupt. It stays in power by handing out other people’s money.
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