TAX NEWS - JUNE 2010

U.S. Tax: Throwdown - Value Added Tax (VAT)

Point by Tom Schlegel: 'VAT would only widen spending pot for liberals'

Liberals love Europe. They love the pretty buildings, the exotic languages and, most of all, they like the rich historical tapestry they never learn from. Because you see, if it has been tried by the Euros and failed miserably, well, then it just has to work here. Take the VAT (Value Added Tax). Please.

This clever little European invention adds, on average, 20 percent to everything you buy in Europe.

Why, you ask? Somebody's got to pay for all those entitlement programs.

We've got a debt problem in this country and the debt bomb is about to explode. The last place we should be emulating is Europe. Can somebody please explain why the progressives who think white people are the root of all evil always want to copy what they do in Europe? Last I checked there are a lot of white people over there.

So just when you thought Obama couldn't possibly damage the country any more, here comes another encore performance. Good old Barack and his socialist puppeteers are floating the idea to see how you react. Not that it matters — 63 percent of Americans want Obamacare repealed and that ain't happening any time soon. At least not until after November. Hmmm.

The VAT is like a sales tax, only it taxes goods at all levels of production. And it's absolutely the perfect solution for Mr. I-won't-raise-taxes-on-anybody-making-less-than-$250,000. He loves it because it's an invisible tax — prices just go up.

It's estimated that a 10 percent VAT would raise $500 billion a year and cost the average American $4,300. Raise your hand if you want to pay more taxes. Of course, if they used the VAT to replace the income tax many of us could get on board with that. But they want us to pay both. Does that sound like a good plan, particularly in this economy?

The way Barack and his redistribution puppets have it figured is that you grow the government as big as you can and then you raise taxes to feed the beast. The man who promised to lower taxes for 95 percent of Americans will be effectively raising them on 300 percent of Americans: me, you, our children and our grandchildren.

The nation's debt is $8 trillion. That's Trillion with a big "T." That is expected to balloon by $12 trillion in the next 10 years. What to do?

I know: How about cutting spending? In recent memory, Canada, Sweden and Finland have managed to cut spending 20 percent. We can do it, too.

The VAT is a toxic idea. It kills small business and virtually every country that has one sees unemployment rise.

Unemployment is high enough. In case you hadn't noticed, this administration is intent on growing the federal bureaucracy. Most of the stimulus money went to state and local governments. While 8 million private sector jobs have been lost in that time, the government didn't lose one. In fact, they may have added a few.

Chris Christie, new governor of New Jersey, has it right. When he took office, New Jersey had a $10 billion deficit. He took on the unions, realizing that this is where much of the waste was being created — the New Jersey teachers union head makes $550,000 annually. While Christie has been relatively successful, Arnie tried it in California and the unions spent $100 million to defeat his agenda. Welcome to bankruptcy, California.

Federal spending under Obama will reach $32,000 per household by 2019. But don't fret. Optimists think that even the shameless Obama won't try to ram through a VAT until after his re-election. So we can still stop him.

Liberals in this country believe they can take your money and spend it better than you can. The VAT is just one more extension of that mindset. The thing they don't seem to understand is that eventually you run out of other people's money.


Counterpoint by Ben Soriano: 'C'mon, Tom, there are more pressing issues'

A thought crossed my mind last fall after reading Tom's first article. I tried to suppress it out of collegial respect, but always it would resurface like a bubble beneath the water. At times, it was subtle, a small pressure against my musings. At other times, it would burst through my consciousness like a surfacing submarine and I'd be forced to reckon with it.

Then his VAT commentary comes along, removing all doubt that Tom's a two-bit imposter.

I tried to ignore his inane blather and make sense of his rants. Many times I was intellectually generous — perhaps too generous — building in the logic he ineptly left out so that I could respond, ignoring his shallow knowledge on most subjects.

Each article has been thin on facts and reasoning, thick on fallacies and ad hominems. And, my God, the rants! So puerile, as Tom plays the picked-on kindergartner everyone ignores: "liberals like Ben...," "Socialists like Obama...," and on and on. So boorish and dull.

But the credit goes to him. He's paid the same for a fraction of the work. Here was this monkey at the typewriter hammering away with dim hopes of a lucid thought! But cogent arguments do not come from random luck. Work must be done. So, besides being a poser, Tom is lazy.

For example: "VAT is wrong."

Seriously? Right vs. Wrong for VAT? Is this what we've regressed to? A 10-year-old's worldview for all things? Sure, for issues of murder, stealing, white after Labor Day, Right v. Wrong is fine, but for VAT? Does he even know the detailed intricacies of the various VAT structures existing globally? Wait, why am I even asking? Since Obama or some other pinko liberal said it, it must be wrong! Why? Because ... wait for it ... "socialists like Obama want to take your money and give it to dark people!"

We've got oil spills, elections, clashing Koreas, Supreme Court rulings, collapsing economies, and he wants to write about academic utterances? In that case, write about Vermont's secession efforts, future emission laws for flying cars, the Mars program!

OK, I give.

VAT discussions are trial balloons to test the national mood on economic reconstruction options during an election year. The goal is to frame the debate around solutions and away from problems.

There.

As for Europe, I've enjoyed the places to which I've traveled, including Europe. Consider this: You step into a plane, sleep, eat, watch a few movies, chat with neighbors, and nine hours later you step out to face a strange country with odd smells and incomprehensible road signs, traditions and customs. Your senses are revived and wonderfully on edge as you adapt and explore. It's the greatest thrill.

In fact, I urge all end-time extremists to sell their ammo, save their pennies and hit the road to foreign lands. To my East Side homebodies: Forget the rims and spend on a plane ticket. You'll get more mileage in life exploring the world than rubbering over the same old tired streets looking for women.