Group claims VAT would break Obama’s tax promise to middle class

News has been mixed about whether the White House is examining a VAT. White Press Secretary Andrew Gibbs on Wednesday the tax is not on the negotiation table, but President Obama in an interview with CNBC deemed the levy a “novel” idea. 

“I know that there’s been a lot of talk around town lately about the value-added-tax,” Obama told CNBC’s John Harwood. “That is something that has worked for some countries. It’s something that would be novel for the United States.”

ATR claims the VAT is a gateway to increased federal spending, and points to Europe, which enacted a VAT in 1967 that has nearly doubled in terms of its affect on GDP. 

House Ways and Means Chairman Sandy Levin (D-Mich.) said his committee is not talking about creating a VAT. But lobbyist predict tax writers will raise the topic after the election as they look to reform the tax code in 2011.