In Politico on Wednesday, August 30th, former Congressional Budget Office director Douglas Holtz-Eakin and Cameron Smith wrote the following about a Value Added Tax (VAT):
“The deficit problem is excessive spending — not inadequate revenues. (…) Adopting a VAT could add insult to injury and exacerbate the spending problem. Raising taxes of any sort might relieve Congress of financial market pressure to get its house in order. Unfortunately, this would quickly be undone because of rising federal spending.”
