Even more bright ideas from the White House
James Pethokoukis reports that the White House is working hard to relieve you of the burden of personal wealth and opportunity. After meeting fierce resistance on proposals for extraordinary new cap-and-trade energy taxes and income surtaxes for government-run health care this summer, the newest push from the White House may be for a value-added tax. The proposed VAT, as is being discussed by White House advisors, would be in the neighborhood of a $400 billion tax increase per year.
Obama's lead economic advisor, Larry Summers, is indicating that the additional revenue will be necessary to fund the increasing cost of entitlement programs. Of course, there is also the obvious need to finance continued "stimulus" packages designed to pay off political supporters and government takeovers of the financial and automotive sectors.
Summers has also indicated that he'd like to go after a carbon tax as well. The primary merits of the two new taxes? First, they would take more of your money to be spent on political pet projects and patronage. Second, well ... they're European.
