Let's see. There's the energy tax. The tax on the superrich. The increased corporate income tax. Sin taxes. And now, much as they hate to, the people who once promised no more taxes on the middle class are considering just that: a value-added tax (VAT).
VATs, common in Europe, impose tariffs at various stages of a product's creation, with the cost eventually passed on to the consumer in the price of the finished goods -- a de facto sales tax. Bill Clinton, shying away, dubbed them a "radical" revenue-raising method in February. But faced with the expected multibillion-dollar annual cost of...