By By U.S. Rep. Jo Bonner
Last Thursday, as Americans were rushing to complete their federal income tax returns before the filing deadline, thousands of tea party members gathered in Washington, DC to demand the government live within its means. They held signs calling on the president and Democrat Congress to stop the out-of-control spending and to reject the president’s costly tax increases.
While I was unable to make it to the rallies in my district because I was voting in Washington, I did take time to voice my strong disapproval over what the majority is doing to our country with a speech on the House floor.
Sadly, the very evening thousands of Americans were up in arms over the direction our government is taking, President Obama, in a moment of political hubris, made light of these rallies, actually suggesting that the tax protestors should be thanking him for lowering their taxes.
Over the last two weeks, news reports have filtered out of Washington that aides close to the president are considering the possibility of the federal government imposing a European-style ‘Value Added Tax” — after the November general election — in order to pay for the administration’s record deficit spending.
The passage of a VAT would have a direct impact on every single American. The VAT has been described as a kind of national sales tax. It would target consumption, taxing both the production and the sale of goods and services. With sales tax rates in many Alabama cities approaching 10 percent, it’s not hard to imagine how unpopular an additional federal tax would be. But it gets worse.
According to news reports, the Obama administration is not looking to replace the current federal income tax with the VAT. Rather, they want to combine the VAT with the current income tax system. And that’s not all.
The Obama White House —  with no discouragement from Speaker Pelosi and her allies — is making the case for these massive tax increases as the only way to save our nation from long-term economic collapse due to unsustainable budget deficits.
It’s hard to swallow such rhetoric when this same administration has spent the last year doubling the budget deficit while ignoring calls for responsible spending.