You can’t say they didn’t warn us.  The latest indication that a value-added tax (VAT) is on the table comes in today’s Wall Street Journal by former Clinton Administration Deputy Treasury Secretary Roger Altman:

We all know the recent and bitter history of tax struggles in Washington, let alone Mr. Obama’s pledge to exempt those earning less than $250,000 from higher income taxes. This suggests that, possibly next year, Congress will seriously consider a value-added tax (VAT). A bipartisan deficit reduction commission, structured like the one on Social Security headed by Alan Greenspan in 1982, may be necessary to create sufficient support for a VAT or other new taxes.