VAT Not off the table by any means:
Key Player on Debt Commission Says VAT in the Mix
"Additionally, in an interview with CNBC, President Obama did not flatly rule out a VAT tax in the future, calling the levy a "
novel" idea that had worked in other countries. Obama said he would prefer to focus first on reducing spending and said his strong preference is to sheild the middle class from tax increases"
""I know that there's been a lot of talk around town lately about the value added tax," Obama told CNBC. "That is something that has worked for some countries, it's something that would be novel for the United States. 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. My 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 as opposed to figuring out how much money can we raise and then not having to make tough choices on the spending side."
This at the same time many state are raising taxes in a budget deficit.