Why are policymakers taking a fresh approach toward national sales tax?
Once Considered Unthinkable, U.S. Sales Tax Gets Fresh Look Levy Viewed as Way to Reduce Deficits, Fund Health Reform By Lori Montgomery Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, May 27, 2009 With budget deficits soaring and President Obama pushing a trillion-dollar-plus expansion of health coverage, some Washington policymakers are taking a fresh look at a money-making idea long considered politically taboo: a national sales tax. This Story * Once Considered Unthinkable, U.S. Sales Tax Gets Fresh Look * Special Report: Health-Care Reform Common around the world, including in Europe, such a tax — called a value-added tax, or VAT — has not been seriously considered in the United States. But advocates say few other options can generate the kind of money the nation will need to avert fiscal calamity. At a White House conference earlier this year on the government’s budget problems, a roomful of tax experts pleaded with Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner to consider a VAT. A recent flu
