For some time now, American taxpayers have been worried about the looming prospect of a crippling national sales tax (the VAT) to bail out Washington DC’s chronic overspending. We have written previously about plans to use a VAT to pay for the out-of-control spending that Obamacare shall usher in, as numerous Obama allies have floated the idea on numerous occasions.
We thought that this job-killing, economy-destroying tax was dropped when we, like so many others, pointed out its lunacy, particularly in the current economic climate. So it’s somewhat disturbing to read last week that Charles Krauthammer predicted a value-added tax (or VAT) could be in the works, and even more disturbing that Brit Hume has suggested that the VAT could be pushed into law during a lame-duck session of Congress, if loss for the Democratic Party are steep enough to force them to relinquish their control following the 2008 cycle
Although it still remains unlikely that Congress will do something to so destructive just after passing Obamacare, it is certainly a handy reminder that we must always remain vigilent against such threats. And, as we have said many, many times, for many, many reasons, the VAT is a very, very bad idea.