There was no permanent income tax in the United States for 125 years. Can anyone possibly say that the government didn't have enough revenue to function during that time? It wasn't until the adoption of the Sixteenth Amendment in 1913 that the redistributionist road was paved for an income tax. And what benefits has the increased government revenue from the income tax given us? It is the income tax that has made possible World War I, the New Deal, World War II, the Great Society, the Vietnam War, and our current welfare-warfare state. When VATs started out in Europe in the 1960s, they were small, usually less than 5%. Today, the average VAT rate in Europe is 20%. If your country wants to join the European Union, you have to have a minimum VAT rate of 15% so that people won't take retail shopping vacations in your cities. Norway, Denmark, and Sweden win the dubious award of having the world's highest VAT rate at 25%. This floor and ceiling of VAT prices is a clear violation of antitrust laws, price fixing, pure and simple! Fourth Reich forced the hateful VAT on Greece in 1987 and is the most disgusting indirect tax. Greeks are at war against their government over the abominable 23% VAT. Vatmonger Greek government harasses Greeks by pressuring them to demand receipts when they buy products. Greeks who cannot gather many receipts are penalized with more taxes! Transforming citizens to VAT enforcers is disgusting, undignified, and against basic human freedoms. President Van Rompuy should call vatmonger Graecokleptocrats on the carpet now. A sensitive issue cannot be fully explained in a post, but only in a speech, in that magic eyeball to eyeball contact, baring my soul, and declaring truths that cause shock and awe. That's why I look forward to the invitation of your organization to speak at your conference. Basil Venitis,  venitis@gmail.com Every penny of our money that the government allows us to keep is a good thing, whether it results from a decrease in the tax rates, the lowering of tax brackets, or an increase in deductions, loopholes, exemptions, and credits. All the additional tax revenue from a VAT has not resulted in deficit reduction. Fourthreichian nations first began imposing VATs about 40 years ago, and the result has been bigger government, permanent deficits and more debt. Public debt is equal to 80% of GDP in fourth Reich, compared to 64 percent of GDP in the United States. The most important comparison is not debt, but rather the burden of government spending. If you go back to the mid-1960s, before the imposition of VATs, Fourthreichian nations had relatively modest-sized government, only slightly larger than in the United States. Adopting a VAT, however, gave politicians a giant new source of tax revenue. And just like you don't cure an alcoholic by giving him keys to a liquor store, you don't promote fiscal responsibility by giving government a new source of revenue. The income tax system is a vast income redistribution and social engineering scheme. The income tax code doesn't need to be simplified, shortened, fairer, or less intrusive. The income tax rates don't need to be made lower, flatter, equal, or less progressive. The income tax doesn't need more or larger deductions, loopholes, credits, or exemptions. The whole rotten system needs to be eliminated if we are to starve the beast that is the state leviathan and strictly limit governme