Avoid a VAT

Ernest S. Christian/Gary Robbins Our current tax system runs to more than 60,000 pages of laws, regulations and rulings. It's so confusing that many, if not most, Americans mail their return with no idea whether or not they've filled it out properly. ...However, a handful of tax reforms would do more harm than good....The proponents of this scheme (the so-called two-track system) propose a high-rate, value-added tax (VAT) of the type used in Europe, which is a hidden tax on wages, dividends and consumer purchases. ...the two-track system is a prescription for enormous expansion of government and escalating tax rates. The increasing taxes will especially burden the minority of voters subject to income taxes as well as the VAT. .... It would place a surtax on hard work, productivity and success. It would penalize Americans who have already succeeded and discourage others from even attempting to succeed. That's because even if they worked harder and more productively, they'd know that income taxes would take a large bite out of their earnings. A reasonable person near the income-tax threshold would likely decide that the increased income wasn't worth losing his exemption from the income tax and, in his view, having to start "paying taxes" for the first time. The Washington Times: Commentary