Papantonio: VAT Tax Could Save America

[GoLeft TV]

Run time: 08:59 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmmP5SHo_kw   Posted on YouTube: April 12, 2010 By YouTube Member: golefttv Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: April 12, 2010 By DU Member: GoLeft TV Views on DU: 553

 
Will a national sales tax help reduce the deficit? Obviously, that answer is "yes," and in spite of all of their whining about rising deficits, the GOP just can't bring itself to the realization that without tax revenue, the government will always be broke. Mike Papantonio appears on Fox News' Bulls and Bears to give us the truth about taxes and deficits.

[dotymed]

1. An alternative that is fair?

Raise the income taxes on the wealthy to the pre-reagan levels.

[PDJane]

2. yes. Thank you.

Sales taxes and VATs are regressive.

[JDPriestly]

3. No one mentioned the fact that the VAT can be placed on imports

Do away with income taxes and bring in a high VAT, and people will like it.

It's harder to avoid taxes with a VAT. (It can be done, but it is harder to do.)

The main advantage of a VAT is that it provides a legal protection for domestic industry because it imposes the same tax on a product whether produced here or in another country.

The disadvantage which is the regressive nature of the tax can be easily remedied. First, low income people can receive refunds of some of the tax money they pay based on averaging what the normal person spends and simply refunding what the share of tax would be on that.

Second, basic necessities need not be subject to the VAT. That's the way it is with sales taxes now in some states. Food is not taxed. Books are.

Germany has a thriving industrial, manufacturing sector in part because of the quality of the goods it produces but also because it imposes a VAT on imports as well as domestic production. Yes. Taxes are high in Germany, but the taxes are imposed on imports as well as domestic production. I repeat that because people don't seem to understand what that means for the overall economy.

European economies are doing better than many Americans think. That is especially impressive because Europeans do not have the vast natural resources that we have. Germany, for example, has no oil. None. Nada. We have some oil. Not enough, but some. And no European country has the vast open space that we have.

The GDP numbers are misleading because our system inflates them by counting things that don't need to be done in other countries. For example, our health care costs are high. They make up, what is it, 16 % of our GDP. But we really don't get better health care on average than do Europeans who spend less on health care. So our GDP is not a good measure of the state of our economy. That is especially true because the number is off balance because the dollar is probably worth a lot more than it should be since it is the international currency.

[niceypoo]

4. The republicans on this show are like characters from a Saturday night live skit