I hate the implicet slavery (loss of freedom) from taxes which have just become another accepted part of life. If we don’t accept it, then we get locked up. As sad as it is, do we have anywhere better to take our business and riches besides the USA?

Under the current level of spending, we need to roughly double our current individual tax burden.

VAT or income tax, doesn’t matter. Double the current individual tax burden.

Does the tax foundation assume that people will generate the same amount of income as they do under the current tax scheme? If it does, the numbers are way off. Much higher taxes would be required at much lower income levels and, more likely, the deficit would simply never be paid off. The only reason the United States was (barely) able to maintain a 90% top marginal tax in the past is because people in that tax bracket paid an average effective tax rate of 23%.

Canada introduced a 7% VAT in 1990 during a time of spiraling government debt. After 10 years of cost cutting and tax increases the government was able to start reducing income taxes and did so many times over the last 8 years. In the last 2 years the VAT was reduced 2%.

Here are some concrete stats:

Total Canadian government revenues have fallen by almost 4 percentage points of GDP, from a peak of 44.2% of GDP in 1992 to an estimated 40.5% of GDP in 2006.
…
Total government spending in Canada has fallen by an astonishing more than 10 percentage points of GDP, from a (recession-bloated) high of 53.3% in 1992 to an estimated 39.5% of GDP in 2006.

So the answer to your question is yes it is possible for democratic governments to raise taxes to fix a debt problem and then lower them when times get better. Whether is it possible for the US government to do is another question.

I don’t think we differ too much in opinion, I think we may just be missing each other’s points.

I think that if the VAT was enacted today, it would just be another revenue stream for the government to fund all of this insanity that’s been legislated / proposed to be legislated.

If however, income tax was repealed, and they junked all of the crap that the government has no business dealing in in the first place, and then instituted a universal and modest VAT to cover the then severely reduced federal budget – then yes, it would be more fair and transparent.

But I don’t think any of these power hungry clowns in DC have the balls, will, moral fiber or restraint to ever do that.

here’s my simple little questions:
1) has any government anywhere on earth EVER let a VAT tax expire?
2) has any government anywhere on earth EVER used VAT revenue solely to pay down debt?
3) has any government anywhere on earth EVER seen the size of their budget and powers *decrease* after introduction of a VAT tax?

that’d be ‘no’, right? what’s the classic definition of insanity? “doing something that’s never worked each and every time it’s been tried in the past, and expecting a (different) positive outcome”? but i’m willing to work with ya here, raven. tell you what: when the federal and state governments finally STOP taking their cut out of my paycheck like they said they would- WW2 having been won 64 years ago – then we’ll talk. until then, i want that VAT cancer kept as far away from me as possible.