Posted on 05/06/2012 7:15:07 PM PDT by Typical_Whitey
THE value-added tax is getting some love lately, but will anyone listen? In his new book, "The Benefit and the Burden: Tax Reform—Why We Need It and What It Will Take", Bruce Bartlett, an erstwhile Republican wonk, comes out in favour of a VAT. Josh Barro, a center-right economic policy analyst, writes today in favour of a VAT at Bloomberg View. Just one more curmudgeonly self-hating conservative tax analyst and we have a trend! (If you're not sure how a VAT works, Mr Barro's third paragraph has you covered.)
Conservatives have long opposed a VAT on the grounds that it makes raising revenue too easy. Rather than starving the beast, a VAT awards the beast a lifetime pass to the Golden Corral. In a review of "The Benefit and the Burden", David Henderson, a research fellow at the Hoover Institute, tracks the evolution of Mr Bartlett's VATitude:
For a few years now, he has argued that the United States should adopt a vat, and he continues that argument in his book. Conservatives and libertarians tend to oppose a vat on the grounds that it is a “money machine” for the federal government. Indeed, Bartlett writes that he had opposed the vat on those grounds. So why did he change his mind Because he no longer sees “any hope of controlling entitlement spending before the baby-boom deluge hits.” He writes, “The United States [he means the U.S. government] needs a money machine.”
(Excerpt) Read more at economist.com ...
VAT. Brucie hates the National Retail Sales Tax.
ayep! let’s all line up and offer the government another pocket to pick!
This is why Bruce Bartlett is such a bad thinker. The liberal media covers for him, but he’s not so sharp.
Bartlett’s formula:
1. Politicians can’t stop spending.
2. They’ve set up the Boomers with massive unfunded benefits.
3. They’ve saddled the Boomers’ children, grandchildren and great grandchildren with massive debt, heavy regulation and taxation.
4. #2 cannot be met without giving more money to #1 thus exacerbating #3.
How is this a solution?
Doing the same thing over and over again and hoping for a different result is insane.
Bartlett is crazy.
Why NOBODY brings up servitude (I mean, if they ‘own’ a part of your labor in taxes, they ‘own’ YOU). Dumbo and Mini-Me both think 30% of your life is a good start.
I think the easiest solution is....FOLLOW THE FRICKIN’ CONSTITUTION, YOU DUMB, POS MF’ERS. </rant off>
“Money out of YOUR pockets, into theirs.
And what may you expect in return?”
easy, demands for more......
:^)
There are many methods of tax COLLECTION. Regardless of the methods, there is a limit to the amount of tax that gets collected. That limit is about 20% GDP.
Our current and historic problem is SPENDING. Currently collection and spending are two seperate activities of Congress. Thus, as long as there are no limits on Congress’s ability to borrow, there will not be any linkages between the two. Until there is a link, there will never be any ability to “starve the beast”.
The firs action necessary to fix this mess is to first limit spending to our tax rate in terms of GDP. To fix the debt issue, the spending needs to be reduced to LESS than the collection rate and then use the surplus to purchase back the debt. This is known and has not changed in decades. What we are lacking is the political will to make this happen.
In theory, the VAT is a much more efficient tax which encourages saving and penalizes spending. But, as we all know, you will never persuade politicians in Washington to trade income tax for VAT. They want both. Just like we have in Canada.
Spending is the problem absolutely, but when it was being addressed during the debt ceiling (LOL) fiasco the Conservatives lost the political battle because the majority believes, as it has been instructed by the treasonous Democrats, that it is entitled to vote itself benefits from the public trust. That mentality must be changed or the Republic is doomed.
It is not a case of controlling entitlement spending it is controlling the federal government from robbing the booms blind. I have been paying in for over 45 years and they have been stealing the money since the 60's when it became part of the general tax collected pot. These bastards have robbed us blind and now they are afraid of us and rightfully so.
You’re getting more vociferous in your old age, Geron.
I totally disagree with the very premise that government needs more money or easier money.
The problem ain’t a lack of revenue for these idjits....
People work their whole lives hoping to retire and stop having to pay the income tax they’ve been bleeding for decades. Now, when they retire, they’re going to get taxed in a new way when either a VAT or National Sales Tax kicks in.
Of course. VAT is horrible. It’s a tax on the GDP.
The fundamental tenet of taxation is that you tax what you want less of. You tax the GDP, the GDP goes down.
A tax is a burden, that is its very definition.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.