VAT’s Day? If you were a lobbyist for the Value Added Tax, this would be the week to make your pitch, no? I’d happily pay more in a Euro-style VAT that seamlessly skimmed money from my purchases if it meant I wouldn’t have to keep track of all these expenses. … P.S.: To simplify things, the VAT would have to either replace the personal income tax or be accompanied by some radical revisions. Half-measures (e.g. keeping the complex income tax while relying on it less) wouldn’t do, though that is what the system usually serves up. … P.P.S.: And yes, the VAT is regressive. I’m not necessarily for it. Just saying April 15th is its best day. …
Mickey Kaus
Kausfiles
The only way you are going to pay for single-payer is to actually pay for it. Regressive taxes like the VAT are really the only option.
The sole purpose of the VAT is to hide the true tax rate and soak people for more money than they would willingly pay. It’s the perfect Democratic vehicle–pure lies from top to bottom.
All new taxes that can be imagined, VAT, fair tax, etc. will always and everywhere be in addition to the income tax, never in place of it. The income tax is much too valuable to as a social engineering tool and it presents too many opportunities for graft by power hungry politicians. They will never let it go.
The appeal of VAT is that it is a tax on gross income instead of net income. A flat tax on gross income would be more transparent and would allow for a base exemption.
The appeal of the VAT is that it is on gross instead of net income. A flat tax would be more transparent and allow for a base exemption. You still have the issue of determining what expenses should be deductible from gross income. Fairly easy for retail, hard for manufacturing, services and extraction.
Flat tax. It will thin the ranks of the IRS and can be set for a base execption. VAT is a wet dream for every Big Government advocate — taxes are largely hidden from the public and small increments will compound the take for Washington. If you want to grow goverment and the taxation bureaucracy, VAT amounts to rocket fuel.