by Dan Mitchell | Sep 8, 2018 | Blogs, Taxation, VAT
The value-added tax was first imposed in Europe starting about 50 years ago. Politicians in nations like France approve of this tax because it is generally hidden, so it is relatively easy to periodically raise the rate. And that’s the reason I am vociferously opposed...
by Dan Mitchell | Dec 23, 2017 | Blogs, Taxation, VAT
I never saw The Nightmare Before Christmas, a 1993 film. But that’s fine, because I am already dealing with my own nightmare with the holiday just around the corner. What’s haunting me is the specter of a value-added tax, which some reporters now think is a clear and...
by Dan Mitchell | Sep 20, 2017 | Big Government, Blogs, Taxation
I argued last year that leftists should be nice to rich people because upper-income taxpayers finance the vast majority of the American welfare state according to government data. Needless to say, my comment about being “nice” was somewhat sarcastic. But I was making...
by Dan Mitchell | Sep 6, 2017 | Blogs, Taxation
Whenever I see an otherwise sensible person express support for a value-added tax, it triggers a Pavlovian response. And it’s not a favorable reaction. I’ve criticized Tom Dolan, Greg Mankiw, and Paul Ryan, for pro-VAT comments. I’ve gone after Kevin Williamson, Josh...
by Dan Mitchell | May 12, 2017 | Big Government, Blogs, Taxation
As I’ve written before, our fight to restrain the size and scope of government will be severely hamstrung – perhaps even mortally wounded – if the crowd in Washington ever succeeds in getting a value-added tax as a new source of revenue. This is why many statists are...
