Ask Not for Whom the Tax Tolls

Look out, middle-class America — Washington is coming after you next. Here’s Shawn Tully:

If Washington gridlock persists, the big new tax is a virtual certainty. The most probable choice will be a VAT. Since the VAT is assessed on things people buy, not their incomes, it falls heavily on the middle class. Suddenly, the issue is sneaking into the fiscal debate. A January 7th editorial in the New York Times called for a VAT. The same week, in a piece criticizing the nomination of Jack Lew for Treasury Secretary, the Wall Street Journal editorial page groused that President Obama’s spending plans will saddle America with a VAT by default.

This isn’t what the middle class was promised.

No, but enough of us believed the BS we were promised to get the Taxer-and-Spender-in-Cheif reelected.

The idea of DC holding the power of a VAT and an income tax at the same time should cause any American nothing but sleepless nights. The VAT is mostly-invisible, and regressive as a head tax. Combine it with the tyranny of the IRS and the income tax, and it’s over — the American experiment is over.