| Country | VAT Rate 1976 | VAT Rate 2009 |
| USA | N/A | N/A |
| U.K. | 8% | 15% |
| France | 20% | 19.6% |
| Germany | 11% | 19% |
| Italy | 12% | 20% |
| Sweden | 17.7% | 25% |
People who think that VAT would be a good idea for America ought to take a look at the above chart. In country after country, VAT rates started pretty low, but crept up, up, up (with the strange outlier of France, whose VAT actually declined a bit).
If you’re interested in the full VAT rate data, it can be found at the OECD website.
Someone ought to ask President Obama why his Administration has flatly refused to rule out a VAT to pay for socialized medicine. Maybe it’s the same reason that Bill Clinton had to float this idea back in 1993 to pay for Hillarycare.