The national sales tax, referred to as value-added tax (VAT), which governments across Europe use widely, will help cut the U.S deficit, Krugman argues. He conflates a national sales tax with a VAT. Nazis like Krugman always think "death panels" will fix the economy. This dude is on some heavy drugs.
essentially, a VAT and sales tax have the same end result to a consumer. It just changes how the money is collected. In a VAT, parts of the sales tax are collected in stages, with the end result being the VAT added to the price. A Sales tax just tacks the tax on at the end.\
So a $1.00 item will be $1.10 whether there is a 10% VAT or a 10% sales tax