Obama suggests value-added tax may be an option

[BigBadBrian]

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama suggested Wednesday that a new value-added tax on Americans is still on the table, seeming to show more openness to the idea than his aides have expressed in recent days.

Before deciding what revenue options are best for dealing with the deficit and the economy, Obama said in an interview with CNBC, "I want to get a better picture of what our options are."

After Obama adviser Paul Volcker recently raised the prospect of a value-added tax, or VAT, the Senate voted 85-13 last week for a nonbinding "sense of the Senate" resolution that calls the such a tax "a massive tax increase that will cripple families on fixed income and only further push back America's economic recovery."

For days, White House spokesmen have said the president has not proposed and is not considering a VAT.

"I think I directly answered this the other day by saying that it wasn't something that the president had under consideration," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters shortly before Obama spoke with CNBC.

After the interview, White House deputy communications director Jen Psaki said nothing has changed and the White House is "not considering" a VAT.

Many European countries impose a VAT, which taxes the value that is added at each stage of production of certain commodities. It could apply, for instance, to raw products delivered to a mill, the mill's production work and so on up the line to the retailer.

In the CNBC interview, Obama said he was waiting for recommendations from a bipartisan fiscal advisory commission on ways to tackle the deficit and other problems.

When asked if he could see a potential VAT in this nation, the president said: "I know that there's been a lot of talk around town lately about the value-added tax. That is something that has worked for some countries. It's something that would be novel for the United States."

"And before, you know, I start saying 'this makes sense or that makes sense,' I want to get a better picture of what our options are," Obama said.

He said his first priority "is to figure out how can we reduce wasteful spending so that, you know, we have a baseline of the core services that we need and the government should provide. And then we decide how do we pay for that."

Volcker has said taxes might have to be raised to slow the deficit's growth. He said a value-added tax "was not as toxic an idea" as it had been in the past.

Since then, some GOP lawmakers and conservative commentators have said the Obama administration is edging toward a VAT.
Link (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100421/ap_on_bi_ge/us_obama_tax)

[hideyoursheep]

Wake me when it happens.:indifferent0020:

[sadaist]

It was just this week while in California campaigning (of course) for Barbara Boxer that Obama said we should be thanking him about our taxes.

Thank you Barack. :fufu:

[Dr. Love]

Yeah, thanks for those tax cuts, you asshole!

[Seshmeister]

The trillion a year for 'defence' has to come from somewhere.

This is what that looks like as $100 bills...

http://www.pagetutor.com/trillion/pallet_x_10000.jpg

[PETE'S BROTHER]

The trillion a year for 'defence' has to come from somewhere.

This is what that looks like as $100 bills...

http://www.pagetutor.com/trillion/pallet_x_10000.jpg

looks like my safety deposit box:hee:

[kwame k]

Sure could tip a lot of strippers :biggrin:

[sadaist]

Are those the new counterfeit proof hundreds unveiled yesterday? The only real reason they redesigned them is so Geithner could have his signature on them. But they do look kinda cool.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2010/04/new-100-bill-has-new-security-features-images-to-thwart-counterfeiters/1

[Nitro Express]

Last time I was in Norway a hot dog cost $25. They have a HUGE value added tax. Obama is a nutcase. I thought Bush was bad with his Patriot Act and wars based on lies but Obama is a warmonger and spending us into oblivion. Once Geitner devalues the US Dollar it's not even going to buy a small gum ball.

[Seshmeister]

Norway is expensive but that's partly to do with it being just about the richest country in the world because it's small with oil and the fact it has amazing public services. Their VAT rate is high between 12-24% depending on what you are buying but remember a couple of things.

VAT replaces sales tax so you have to take that off when thinking about the percentages.

Taking the top rate of say Wyoming at 9% off of their top level leaves 15% so without VAT that hot dog would have been $25 x 85% = $21.25 so VAT isn't the main reason their stuff is so expensive in dollars.

Gone are the days when Americans or even British could wander the world having people bite our hands off to get our currencies making it seem cheap.

[Nitro Express]

The thing is the US might get Norwegian taxes but it's not going to get Norwegian services. Look at our new healthcare law. It's not socialized medicine at all, it forces you to buy private insurance and guess what, the insurance companies stock went up and so did their rates. That kind of shit isn't going on in Norway.

[Nitro Express]

The Federal Reserve and the Federal Government are on their last leg. The Chinese and Japanese have cut the money off. The Federal Reserve is printing lot's of dollars but nobody in the world wants them. You only have to look at the Baltic shipping index to see world shipping is way down because the world's biggest consumer (the US) currency is not welcome anymore. So this is why the Federal government is clamping down on us citizens hard, raising taxes, stealing pension fund money, any trick in the book because the offshore sources of money have been cut off. Get ready for more war. The politicians and bankers need another huge disaster to take the attention off themselves. Then Bernanke will devalue the dollar and it will buy even less.

[Blackflag]

That's like one of those prologues you read at the beginning of the Star Wars movies.

[sadaist]

VAT replaces sales tax so you have to take that off when thinking about the percentages.


VAT is going to replace state sales taxes? Um, think again chief.

[Blackflag]

I'd be in favor of the VAT if they'd agree to get rid of the income tax. One or the other.

[sadaist]

I'd be in favor of the VAT if they'd agree to get rid of the income tax. One or the other.


Obama is going to have to implement the VAT. We all knew it was coming when he began the health care proposal. The guy seriously will not stop until every last one of us is flat broke & do not have anything more than we absolutely require to live. No more keeping up with the Jones'. Obama will make sure no one has more than anyone else. That's fair in his eyes.

Love this nugget of news from today too. The Hopenchangers really need to see that the Obama opposition isn't racially motivated and that people are speaking out forewarning of shit like this.

Report: Health overhaul will increase nation's tab
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100423/ap_on_bi_ge/us_health_care_law_costs

[Blackflag]

Obama will make sure no one has more than anyone else. That's fair in his eyes.

Except for all the people in his circle, of course. He, Blankfein, Geithner, and Buffett will have theirs.

[binnie]

Gone are the days when Americans or even British could wander the world having people bite our hands off to get our currencies making it seem cheap.

Indeed. I imagine that our own VAT will be going up after the imminent elections, regarldess of who gets it. More likely with the Tories, I think....

[Seshmeister]

In simple important terms when I was a teenager if you went to a bar in Spain a beer was half the price it was back home, now it's double.

[Seshmeister]

VAT is going to replace state sales taxes? Um, think again chief.

Well maybe you will end up with both but what I meant was that European countries don't so you had to bear that in mind when comparing the US with Norway

[hideyoursheep]

In simple important terms when I was a teenager if you went to a bar in Spain a beer was half the price it was back home, now it's double.

Was it San Miguel?

[Seshmeister]

I think it was.

San Miguel used to be about 30 cents a bottle from grocery stores.

I bought my first pack of cigarettes from a vending machine in the late 1970s in Spain for 17 cents. Strangely the matches were 20 cents.



http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_AZtfmz02c-k/Rx61bFD_AUI/AAAAAAAAAB0/78CLjV6hWW8/s400/abe_simpson.jpg

[PETE'S BROTHER]

In simple important terms when I was a teenager if you went to a bar in Spain a beer was half the price it was back home, now it's double.

a teenager? shit gallon of milk was a nickel, and a movie 15cents back then. of course they were silent movies.:tongue0011:

[Seshmeister]

Yeah yeah. :)

I was talking about relative prices.

[Nickdfresh]

Obama is going to have to implement the VAT. We all knew it was coming when he began the health care proposal. The guy seriously will not stop until every last one of us is flat broke & do not have anything more than we absolutely require to live. No more keeping up with the Jones'. Obama will make sure no one has more than anyone else. That's fair in his eyes.

Love this nugget of news from today too. The Hopenchangers really need to see that the Obama opposition isn't racially motivated and that people are speaking out forewarning of shit like this.

Report: Health overhaul will increase nation's tab
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100423/ap_on_bi_ge/us_health_care_law_costs

Health care "proposal?" Really? You do realize that universal health care is a fraction of the military budget, right?

[Nitro Express]

The states are getting fed up with the Federal Government taking over everything. The more the Feds squeeze us the more the states will break apart. Not in a shoot em up bang civil war but states simply ignoring the Federal laws and taxes. It's going to get interesting because people are really pissed about the whole healthcare law and the more they learn what's in it, the more they get pissed.

[sadaist]

...people are really pissed about the whole healthcare law and the more they learn what's in it, the more they get pissed.

Which is exactly why it was pushed through so quickly without giving the opportunity to digest it's contents and make an educated decision. Just like Obama has been doing with every single one of his decisions. Remember when we were told Timothy Geithner was the only man alive that could save the United States from financial collapse so we "had" to approve him immediately?

Funny how everyone forgets the last thing Obama did because he is an expert at immediately getting our focus onto the next. Just look at what's happening now. People are getting riled up about a VAT while the health care fiasco fades away. When was the last time you really heard anything substantial about Gitmo? Great way to make people forget you're fucking them in the ass. Rip out their eyes & skull fuck them...they'll forget all about the ass raping. Brilliant.