There is growing interest in Washington in a new national consumption tax, otherwise known as a value-added tax or VAT. Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D., N.D.), for example, recently told the Washington Post that "a VAT" has "got to be on the table" as part of "fundamental tax reform.

Simply stated, there's no way to finance all this new spending without an additional, broad-based tax. That's exactly why a VAT -- which is like a national sales tax collected at each stage of the production process, rather than at the final point of sale -- should be resisted.

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