Say No to the VAT
Commentary
Last week, a light appeared on the dark horizon. It seemed like some Republicans were getting serious about reforms we need to save the country from a pillaging ruling class that has been stealing everything not nailed down.
It seemed like perhaps some wise people were thinking about radical and dramatic reform to restore constitutional limits on government power. It appeared that they were putting the interests of the people ahead of that of the government.
The idea, briefly floated, was to abolish the income tax and the agency that collects them. What a thrilling idea! The government expects to collect about $500 billion in income taxes this year. If we look at the federal budget, what would losing $500 billion in revenue mean for the budget? If we were doing strict accounting here, it would mean cutting back receipts by that same amount. They are currently running at $3.2 trillion….