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Democrats in Congress have floated various ways of increasing taxes in their health-care reform, and have applied most of them at one time or another in the bill. Taxes have hit medical devices, capital gains, an income-tax hike on the higher income brackets, and even taxes on cosmetic surgery — even though the current insurance model has nothing to do with the vast majority of the cosmetic-surgery market. This constant stream of tax hikes has the electorate angry and protesting, and it has sapped all of the support from their health-care efforts. Have Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid gotten the...

Runaway federal deficits have thrust a politically unsavory savior into the spotlight: a nationwide tax on goods and services. Members of Congress, like their constituents, are squeamish about such ideas, instead suggesting spending cuts or higher taxes on the rich. But with a lack of political will to do the former, and a practical ceiling to how much revenue can be milked from the latter, economists across the political spectrum say a consumption tax may be inevitable once the economy fully recovers. “We have to start paying our bills eventually,” said Charles E. McLure, a tax economist who worked in...

OTTAWA — The House of Commons on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed legislation enabling the provinces to harmonize their sales taxes with the federal GST, clearing the way for Ontario and British Columbia to implement the HST this summer. The federal HST bill passed by a vote of 253-37. Only the NDP opposed the legislation. Both Ontario and B.C. plan to combine their provincial sales taxes with the federal goods and services tax on July 1. Economists estimate that combining the tax will save businesses in Ontario billions, because firms will no longer have to pay tax on inputs such as materials...

Three-quarters of Ontarians oppose the looming 13 per cent harmonized sales tax, suggests a new Toronto Star-Angus Reid Public Opinion survey. In troubling news for Premier Dalton McGuinty's Liberals, 70 per cent of the 1,162 people polled said their opinion of the government has worsened due to the HST. The numbers were released on the first day of public hearings into the tax at Queen's Park, where various interest groups converged, and about 300 First Nations peoples held an anti-tax rally on the front lawn and later blocked evening rush-hour traffic on University Ave. and College St.

Glenn Beck argues for a federal Value Added Tax. O'Reilly wants a federal sales tax.

Anyone who thinks that health-care reform alone is going to close the massive current -- and even larger projected -- U.S. budget deficit is deluded. President Obama has pledged that health-care reform will not make matters worse. But that isn't good enough. There is no way to restore this nation to fiscal health without higher taxes -- for the middle class as well as for the rich. The only question is when. Those increases should be enacted now, phased in gradually after the recovery is well established, and tied to the increased spending that health-care reform will generate. ... So...

During the campaign, President Obama said he didn't want to raise "any form" of taxes on families making less than $250,000 per year. He has spent all year trying to get around that promise with his healthcare plan. Now it appears that liberals in Washington are working to build momentum behind a new value-added tax (VAT) on everything we buy. Most recently, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that a European-style VAT is "on the table." So on top of your income tax, your payroll tax, your property taxes, and your state sales taxes, Obama and friends want to slap on...

You can add House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to the group of Democrats or Obama allies (John Podesta, Paul Volcker, Roget Altman) calling for a value-added tax. (I predicted all of this days ago.) Here is Pelosi (via The Hill): Pelosi, appearing on PBS’s “The Charlie Rose Show” asserted that “it’s fair to look at” the VAT as part of an overhaul of the nation’s tax code. “I would say, Put everything on the table and subject it to the scrutiny that it deserves,” Pelosi told Rose when asked if the VAT has any appeal to her. The VAT is a...

Candor about taxes is rare in Washington, so when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi admits that Democrats may have to impose a huge new tax on the middle class to fund their spending ambitions, believe her. Speaking with PBS's Charlie Rose on Monday, Mrs. Pelosi mused publicly about the rising possibility of enacting a value-added tax, or VAT, as part of broader tax reform. "Somewhere along the way, a value-added tax plays into this," she said. "Of course, we want to take down the health-care cost, that's one part of it. But in the scheme of things, I think it's fair...

Is this a backdoor way to have government takeover of healthcare? So much for not increasing taxes on any family making more than 200k. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is putting a value added tax (VAT) – and other taxes – on the table. To be clear, Pelosi is not suggesting replacing the federal income tax with a VAT, but she is strongly suggesting the elimination of all employer-based health insurance and pension plans.

Pelosi says new tax is 'on the table' By Michael O'Brien - 10/06/09 10:59 AM ET A new value added tax (VAT) is "on the table" to help the U.S. address is fiscal liabilities, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Monday night. Pelosi, appearing on PBS's "The Charlie Rose Show" asserted that "it's fair to look at" the VAT as part of an overhaul of the nation's tax code. "I would say put everything on the table and subject it to the scrutiny that it deserves," Pelosi told Rose when asked if the value-added tax has any appeal to her....

Over the last few days, the media is reporting on growing speculation that the president is considering or even ready to propose a value added tax. In this way, President Obama would share some ideological similarities with Mike Huckabee. Mike Huckabee is also in favor of a value added tax, though he calls it a consumption tax or the fair tax. There is however a huge difference between Mike Huckabe and President Obama. Mike Huckabee proposes that all we have is a value added or consumption tax. Meanwhile, President Obama wants a value added tax on top of all the...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- President Obama has been steadfast in his pledge that he won't raise taxes on those making less than $250,000. But that doesn't mean only high-income households will be subject to higher taxes. An increasing number of influential Democrats and fiscal policy experts have signaled publicly that lawmakers will have to get a handle on the deficit sooner rather than later. And they recommend policymakers seriously consider the creation of adding a value-added tax (VAT) on top of the federal income tax. That could mean more money out of everyone's pockets when buying virtually anything - sweaters,...

A liberal think tank with close ties to President Barack Obama says the administration and Congress should consider raising taxes on Americans to help close federal budget deficits, an opening salvo in what is likely to be a protracted debate on tax policy. In a draft report, the Center for American Progress says the size of projected budget gaps requires considering options including tax increases as well as curbs on annual spending and entitlement programs supported by Democrats. Such ideas could pose problems for Mr. Obama, who pledged during the campaign to not increase taxes on families making less than...

The latest mad scheme by the President may be an attempt to introduce a Value Added Tax in the United States. James Pethokoukis at Reuters outlines his concerns this way: So John Podesta, co-chairman of Obama’s presidential transition team, says a value-added tax is “more plausible today” than ever, adding that “there’s going to have to be revenue in this budget.” A few thoughts: 1) Podesta is also president of the George Soros-funded Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank closely allied with the White House. 2) It’s consensus among centrist economists, like those in the White House, that...

John Podesta compared the nation’s current budget crisis to the situation former President Bill Clinton faced in 1993 and said some form of a value-added tax is “more plausible today than it ever has been.” “There’s going to have to be revenue in this budget,” said Podesta, Clinton’s former chief of staff and co-chairman of President Barack Obama’s transition team, said in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital with Al Hunt,” airing today.

The Federation of Small Businesses said many companies do not have the accounting systems in place to adjust to the end of the temporary cut in VAT. It means they may end up paying the wrong amount of tax and face being heavily fined as a result, leading accountants said. It is a fresh blow to small companies which are struggling to survive amid the worse recession in a generation. The Daily Telegraph is campaigning to postpone the planned rise in VAT from 15 per cent to 17.5 per cent on January 1. Stephen Alambritis, of the Federation of Small...

Once again the American Left is beating the drum for a European-style Value Added Tax (VAT) to raise vast new sums for the federal government.President Obama's budget proffers the VAT as one way to fund his health care initiative. And respected liberal policy gurus such as Len Berman of the Tax Policy Center are thumping the VAT as well. A more sophisticated version of a national retail sales tax, a VAT is levied at each stage of production, yielding a series of tax assessments. Ultimately, consumers bear the cumulative costs. Economically speaking, the VAT's lack of transparency is a bad...

Expect Congress to seriously consider a value-added tax. Only five months after Inauguration Day, the focus of Washington's economic and domestic policy is already shifting. This reflects the emergence of much larger budget deficits than anyone expected. Indeed, federal deficits may average a stunning $1 trillion annually over the next 10 years. This worsened outlook is stirring unease on Main Street and beginning to reorder priorities for President Barack Obama and the Democratic congressional leadership. By 2010, reducing the deficit will become their primary focus.

Tax lobbyists and policy wonks believe a national sales tax is looming, though they say it’s extremely unlikely to be tied to already controversial healthcare reform legislation. Talk is heating up because of the U.S. budget situation. Many observers believe there simply isn’t enough money coming in under the existing tax structure to pay for programs advocated by both parties. The U.S. is the world’s exception in that it does not have a national sales tax, which is known around the world as a value-added tax, or VAT. Conservative activist Grover Norquist is using the talk to enlarge his anti-VAT...

Democratic lawmakers, scrambling to find a way to finance a trillion-dollar expansion of government health care, are mulling the creation of a value-added tax.But such a political cure could be worse than the disease, intensifying already-growing opposition from the public and business. Unlike a sales tax that applies only to the point of purchase, a VAT taxes the value added at each stage of production. Thus, if the VAT rate is 5% and a producer of raw materials, a manufacturer and a retailer each add $1.00 of value to a product, then each owes the government five cents. A source...

There is growing interest in Washington in a new national consumption tax, otherwise known as a value-added tax or VAT. Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D., N.D.), for example, recently told the Washington Post that "a VAT" has "got to be on the table" as part of "fundamental tax reform." President Barack Obama is already looking at a wide range of other potential tax increases, including higher income tax rates, restrictions on itemized deductions, an energy tax, and higher payroll tax rates. Even if they all became law, the revenues would not come close to satisfying his and Congress's...

The VAT is nothing more than a national sales tax. Again Obama is breaking his pledge not to raise taxes on Americans making less than $250,000. It will also affect corporate earnings thus having effects on 401k’s and IRA.’s. (click the links in the article)

The Value Added Tax (VAT), a system built on a national sales tax, is a scam Obama needs to keep us from moving away from high tax Blue States run by Liberals. He’ll use the VAT to squeeze every possible cent out of us, compel us to stay where we are fund his scheme to destroy America and remake it into a socialist gulag. The VAT cripples America’s spirit. Here’s how this works: The VAT takes away any tax incentive to move to another state an essential of Obama’s plans. Americans are already fleeing high tax Blue States and starting...

In today’s Washington Post, the White House floats a really scary trial balloon—a new national Value-Added Tax (VAT) to pay for out-of-control spending and a Washington take over of health care. Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad appears to be on board. So does Ezekiel Emanuel, brother of White House chief-of-staff Rahm Emanuel, who has been hired by the White House budget office to help design the health care plan and whose book on health care uses a VAT to fund the new government program. Obama economic adviser Paul Volcker is also on-board the VAT-train. ————— "We need to draw...

To raise additional money for the government, just 18% of Americans nationwide favor a national sales tax. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 68% oppose such a tax. There is more support for the concept if sales tax revenue is used to provide health insurance for all Americans. In that scenario, 40% favor a national sales tax and 49% are opposed. Democrats strongly support a national sales tax to provide universal health insurance coverage. Republicans are opposed by a three-to-one margin, and those not affiliated with either major party are opposed two-to-one. A plurality of Americans would...

As lawmakers toy with the idea of an across-the-board sales tax on just about everything, tax reform advocates are starting to drum up opposition with the same fervor they employed during last month's anti-tax tea parties. The idea of a national sales tax was once unlikely. But now that the federal government is doling out billions in stimulus spending and bailouts, and looking for billions more for health care reform, the prospect could be gaining some traction.

Fiscal Policy: Given the number of new tax ideas making the rounds, you'd think we were in a rip-roaring expansion. But we're not, and new taxes are exactly the wrong thing to be proposing.In addition to kicking up taxes on the so-called wealthy, various members of the current administration seem to have lots of new ideas for separating Americans from their money. Ezekiel Emanuel, brother of Rahm Emanuel, President Obama's top aide, is health care adviser to Obama's budget director, Peter Orszag. He wants a 10% value-added tax (VAT), similar to the European Union's, to "pay" for health care reform....

Meltdown 101: Why is the dollar weakening?By MADLEN READ, The Associated Press 1:00 p.m. May 27, 2009 NEW YORK — The U.S. dollar spiked when the economic crisis was peaking, and it's falling now that a recovery's in sight. What gives? The relationship between the country's economy and its currency, it turns out, is more complicated now than ever as the government assumes a larger role in propping up the financial system and encouraging economic growth. Here are some questions and answers about why the dollar has weakened, how much farther it could fall, and what it means for the...

With budget deficits soaring and President Obama pushing a trillion-dollar-plus expansion of health coverage, some Washington policymakers are taking a fresh look at a money-making idea long considered politically taboo: a national sales tax. Common around the world, including in Europe, such a tax -- called a value-added tax, or VAT -- has not been seriously considered in the United States. But advocates say few other options can generate the kind of money the nation will need to avert fiscal calamity. At a White House conference earlier this year on the government's budget problems, a roomful of tax experts pleaded...

On Tax Day, Apr. 15, President Obama declared his belief in simplifying the tax code. His Economic Recovery Advisory Board, chaired by Paul Volcker, has been tasked with presenting recommendations by Dec. 4. Is the flat tax coming? No. Simpler code? Yes. Lower tax rates (plural)? Yes. The catch: The improved income tax code will come with a European-style value-added tax. Choke! Politicians love the VAT. First, because the levy applies to every transaction phase and includes services as well as products, it is difficult to avoid. It's no surprise, therefore, that the VAT was invented by the French. Second,...

Mileage tax might be road bill funding source, Inhofe says By JIM MYERS World Washington Bureau Published: 3/26/2009 2:31 AM WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe said Wednesday that a proposal to tax motorists on the miles they drive is being looked at as an alternative method to funding much-needed road projects. Conceding that such an approach could be awkward, the Oklahoma Republican said such proposals must be part of the discussion as he and other key member of Congress begin putting together the next huge transportation spending authorization bill. "No one thing is going to do it,'' Inhofe said,...

... America’s really big fiscal problems lurk over that budget horizon: sooner or later we’re going to have to come to grips with the forces driving up long-run spending — above all, the ever-rising cost of health care. And even if fundamental health care reform brings costs under control, I at least find it hard to see how the federal government can meet its long-term obligations without some tax increases on the middle class. Whatever politicians may say now, there’s probably a value-added tax in our future.

Tehran's bazaar stays shut in VAT protest TEHRAN (AFP) — The Iranian capital's traditional bazaar stayed on strike on Sunday to back calls for the scrapping of VAT, even after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad froze implementation of the tax for two months Stalls were shuttered in the capital's main bazaar, an AFP correspondent said, with policemen in uniform and plainclothes patrolling the area. The main gate remained closed and shoppers left empty-handed. It is the first general strike at the bazaar since the revolution. The shutdown started in jewellery shops on Wednesday then spread to textile and carpet stalls, reaching its...

WASHINGTON — Mike Huckabee, one of the most conservative Republicans in the 2008 presidential race, has embraced one of the most radical ideas on the campaign trail: a plan to abolish all federal income and payroll taxes and replace them with a single 23% national sales tax. The idea -- dubbed the "fair tax" by proponents -- has been a political asset for Huckabee; its well-organized backers have helped catapult him from the back of the presidential pack to its top tier. Sales tax proponents have tapped into seething voter hostility toward the Internal Revenue Service to become a below-the-radar...

December 4, 2007 -- MIKE Huckabee isn't running a substance-free campaign based on biography and ap plause lines. No, the former Arkansas governor has the distinction of advocating the most radical - and politically unsalable and substantively daft - proposal of any major presidential candidate. It's the so-called FairTax: It would eliminate the income and payroll taxes and replace them with a (supposedly) 23 percent national sales tax. Huckabee says, "When the FairTax becomes law, it will be like waving a magic wand releasing us from pain and unfairness." Waving a magic wand is about right - since the FairTax...

A U.S. Treasury report on ways to cut corporate taxes will include discussion of a national sales tax, a senior Treasury official told CNBC. The U.S. currently has no national sales tax, also known as a value added tax, or VAT, though many states do. The tax would be one option to help offset revenue lost from lowering corporate taxes. The report is due in the coming weeks. The top corporate tax rate is now 35 percent, and the official said that if exemptions are eliminated, a 27 percent rate would be revenue-neutral. Besides a national sales tax, the Treasury...

Daniel Drew, the legendary 19th century Wall Street insider, reputedly said that all he wanted in any deal was "a little unfair advantage." Most of America's trade competitors seem to want the same thing, or even a big unfair advantage. Imagine how it would help the competitiveness of American exporters if U.S. companies could cut their prices an average of 19 percent in Europe and 17 percent in Asia. Imagine what it would also mean if foreign imports into the United States from overseas were raised by the same percentages. U.S. financial generosity to our allies after World War II...

Seventh district congressman John Linder (R-Ga.) won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1992. He currently sits on the House Ways and Means Committee. He is also the author of the FairTax, legislation that would change the U.S. tax system. Let's jump right into it - explain exactly what the FairTax is. The FairTax is a bill that would repeal all taxes on income - no more corporate income tax, no personal income tax, no payroll taxes, no self employment tax - no gift tax, estate tax, capital gains tax or alternative minimum tax. Any tax that...

RBC, 28.02.2006, Moscow 19:11:41.Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed the federal law amending the Russian Tax Code in so far as it concerns the application of a zero VAT rate and VAT refund, the President's press service reported. The State Duma passed the law on February 15, 2006, overriding the Federation Council's veto of February 8, 2006. After this the law was sent to the President for signing, bypassing the upper chamber.

Jean-Marie Carton hired five employees during a recent boom in home renovations in France. But he now faces laying off two of his workers - and watching illegal competitors snap up business - because officials 2,000 kilometers away in Poland are blocking a favorable deal on taxes. "The consequences are going to be dramatic for a little enterprise like mine," said Carton, who runs a family business installing heating systems in old houses in the Dordogne region. "Clients have an automatic reflex and start using workers in the 'black' economy when taxes rise, and that means we lose business." Poland's...

"Recently the President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform gave a press relief briefing on the new recommendations they will unveil..."

WASHINGTON, Oct. 11 - President Bush's tax advisory commission indicated today that it would not propose replacing the income tax with a national sales tax or a value-added tax but would recommend modifications in the popular tax deductions for mortgage interest and employer-provided health insurance. (Excerpt)

Jharkhand, the latest state to announce its decision to switch to the State VAT, must be commended. Despite being a BJP-ruled state at a time when the BJP leadership is preventing its states from joining the Vat regime, Jharkhand has chosen to do the sensible thing. It indicates either a change in the stance of BJP’s leaders, or some creditable independence on the part of Jharkhand’s leaders. This leaves six major states out of the system — Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and UP. Talks have been taking place with political leaders to get them to join in....

Indeed, the Brussels-based Center for a New Europe notes that none of the countries that have adopted the flat tax are seriously contemplating any retreat from it. Flat-tax pioneer Estonia is even reducing its rate by two percentage points a year until it drops to 20% in 2007. Since the tax's inception in 1994, Estonia has had an average growth of 5.2% a year, and now also ranks fourth (out of 155 countries) in the Index of Economic Freedom, published by The Wall Street Journal and the Heritage Foundation. After being mired in stagnation for years, in 2001 Russia implemented...

From his June 8, 2005 letter to the President’s Tax Panel, Congressman John Linder expands upon some points of interest: “I want to thank the panel for the many long hours that it has grappled with how to fundamentally transform our tax code. I know that many more hours are still to come. In your May 11th hearing, you used several of those hours to explore consumption tax proposals generally and specifically a national retail sales tax proposal known as the FairTax. As the Congressional sponsor of the FairTax, I appreciated the many questions that panel members asked about the...

THE GREATEST PLEASURE OF RUNNING a country (although no politician will admit it) is getting to tax people. We Republicans decry exactions and imposts and espouse minimal outlay by the sovereign power. But we control all three branches of government. This won't last forever. Let's have some fun while we can. Moreover, the federal deficit is--contrary to all Republican principles--huge. Even the most spending-averse among us wouldn't mind additional revenue. America's media and entertainment industry has a gross (as it were) revenue of $316.8 billion a year. If we subtract the income derived from worthy journalism and the publishing of...

Beware the Value-Added Tax by Daniel J. Mitchell, Ph.D. Heritage Foundation Policy Research & Analysis Backgrounder #1852 May 16, 2005 America is one of the few nations without a value-added tax (VAT), but there is growing pressure to impose the levy. In simple terms, a VAT is a type of national sales tax. However, instead of being collected at the cash register, it is imposed on the “value added” at each stage of the production process. Some like the VAT because it offers a new way to finance bigger government. Others like the VAT because—at least compared to the income...

Le Tax: Do the French have it right? France first set up a dual tax system that the rest of the developed world adopted, except the U.S. NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Ever since President Bush began pushing tax reform, policy experts have been wondering if he'd go euro. With reform recommendations from a presidential panel due by July 31, the betting is that at least one of the proposals would move the United States closer to a model that started in France decades ago, spread across Europe and is now used by more than 120 countries, including Singapore, Canada, Japan...

Lately I have irked some fellow conservatives by attacking the idea that a national retail sales tax can replace our current federal tax system, while at the same time endorsing a value-added tax as a new tax on top of our current system. To many of my friends, it looks as if I have switched sides. For their benefit, I would like to explain myself and assure them that I am still a conservative in good standing. On tax reform, I have been a supporter of the flat tax ever since I read the first article about it by Hoover...