On the recordNovember 16, 2010
In May, 154 of my Republican colleagues and I sent a letter to the President's Fiscal Commission asking them to reject a new value-added tax as a way to balance the Federal budget. With top White House advisers like John Podesta and Paul Volcker talking about the need for a VAT tax, there was great concern that the Fiscal Commission would look to this tax as an easy way to raise more revenue. Last week, I was pleased to see that the cochairs released a preliminary report that did not call for a new VAT tax. The ease with which a VAT tax can raise revenue makes it especially dangerous. The government cannot create jobs, and a VAT tax would only further deplete resources from the private sector, the true center of job growth. Now we need to have a serious debate in Congress about the best ways to control government spending and let the private sector flourish, grow, and create sustainable jobs.
