Marty Sullivan, a frequent commentator on tax policy, has now apparently decided the United States needs a value-added tax (VAT). To advance the cause, he penned a brief column on “VAT Lessons from Canada” [“VAT Lessons From Canada”, Martin A. Sullivan, Tax Notes, May 3, 2010.] However, in trying to portray the Canadian VAT in the best possible light, Sullivan airbrushed a couple of the more relevant facts. The most important fact for the United States and one stunning by its absence in Sullivan’s piece is that the only reason …
Speaker Nancy Pelosi joined a growing liberal chorus calling for a massive tax hike through the implementation of a value added tax (VAT). A VAT is similar to a national sales tax. Businesses would pay it at each stage of the production process and consumers at the cash register. European countries have had VATs for years. As we pointed out earlier this year, Congress should not pass a VAT to pay for a government takeover of the health care system or expand the size of government. If it does so, …
Tax Freedom Day is the day in the year when we have earned enough income to pay our total tax bill for the year. It is a simple way to illustrate the cost of government and can be applied to countries around the world. In the U.S., according to the Tax Foundation, Tax Freedom Day was April 13 this year. That means it took all Americans from January 1 to April 13 to earn enough income to pay taxes in 2009. The Fraser Institute in Canada calculates Tax Freedom Day …
Massive increases of spending by the Obama Administration, from the stimulus to its proposed budget, have created historically unprecedented large deficits that will push the nation’s debt level to unsustainable levels. It was only a matter of time before the proponents of big government began their push to substantially increase the amount of revenue raised by the federal government to close these budget gaps and pay for other big-government priorities like nationalized healthcare. The tax hike proposals offered so far—such as taxes on sugary drinks or tax hikes on alcoholic …
