One reason America is more competitive than Europe is that politicians only have access to one big source of money. But if they can add a value-added tax (a European-style national sales tax) on top of the income tax, that will allow them to finance a big expansion in the burden of government. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what they want, according to the co-chairman of President Obama’s transition team. Bloomberg reports:
“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. A so-called consumption tax would “create a balance” with European and Japanese economies and “could potentially have a substantial effect on competitiveness,” said Podesta. Value-added taxes in Europe and Japan encourage savings by taxing consumption. Podesta said such a tax may be regressive, but can be balanced by exempting some products and using “the money to support low-wage workers.”
[…] Ryan, but several high-ranking Democrats have made no secret about their desire for a VAT (see here, here, and here). And everyone agrees that a VAT is capable of extracting a lot of money from the […]
[…] Rep. Ryan, but several high-ranking Democrats have made no secret about their desire for a VAT (see here, here, and here). And everyone agrees that a VAT is capable of extracting a lot of money from the […]
Posted by Neal on November 7, 2006At about suppertime last night, the phone rang. ,
[…] 7, 2009 by Dan Mitchell Less than two weeks ago, this blog discussed how one of Obama’s main political allies was arguing for a value-added tax Now Nancy Pelosi is […]