Is a value added tax still on the table despite the White House’s claim that it isn’t?
Two weeks ago a high ranking adviser to Barack Obama– Paul Volcker– floated the idea that it might be time for the United States to consider a value added tax, claiming that this idea isn’t as toxic as it once was. Just yesterday I wrote a post about the White House claiming that a value added tax “is not something the president has proposed, nor is it under consideration.”
But today is a new day and the president has a new position. Today Barack Obama did not rule out the possibility that he might be open to a value added tax. During an interview with CNBC, when asked about the possibility of a value added tax, Barack Obama failed to second the position that Joe Gibbs stated was the president’s philosophy when it comes to a value added tax, stating that before “I start saying this makes sense or that makes sense, I want to get a better picture of what our options are.”
There you have it, the president is leaving all of his options open. He was given the chance to deny that he would consider a value added tax and he did not do so. He is unwilling to declare a value added tax does not make sense until after he knows what all of his options are.
This leaves open the possibility that he is considering a value added tax. Surely this statement means that he is considering various tax increases, he just doesn’t know which one would be best yet.
Make no mistake about it, whether it ends up being a value added tax or some other tax; new taxes are coming because this man is unable to control his spending. Controlling spending would be the only option that would not require a new tax of some kind and we have already seen that that is not an option with this administration.
In all likelihood, there will be a combination of new taxes coming to the American people, not just one new tax, and a value added tax could still be one of them. The president did not come out and say it, but neither did he deny it. If a value added tax was not something that he was in favor of, and if a value added tax was not something that he was considering, this would have been the perfect opportunity to say so. He didn’t and now we are left to wonder what is in store for us when it comes to new taxes.
America's Watchtower 
That didn’t take long.
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No it didn’t, I guess Texas Fred was right in his comment he made to my post on this yesterday.
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Boyoboy, I can’t think of a single worse thing to do to our already tottering tax system than to add a VAT.
Again, I say adopt the FairTax. Scrap all current taxes and impose a single, one-rate national sales tax on all new goods and services and duck while all the expatriated money comes flying home.
Of course it’ll never happen, because the politicians all understand that it takes too much power away from them and delivers it back into the hands of the people.
That having been said, I’ll never stop supporting the FairTax, despite my party’s insistence on demagoguing it (don’t worry, the GOP generally lies about it as well).
Back to the VAT – worst idea around. If the President had decent staff, he’d have said “Ordinarily, I’d say wait and see, but the VAT stinks so bad I want to make it clear it’s off the table.”
But his staff sucks and lets him say the foolish things he says sometimes.
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