Rothbard tackles the insidious VAT

In this essay criticizing the possible implementation of a Value Added Tax back in the 1970’s by the Nixon administration, Murray Rothbard once again exhibits the sharp insight and the scalpel like perspicuity that he would readily wield into a cogent libertarian argument. In the case of the VAT, the argument raised by Rothbard against it still remains strong and very convincing. Here is an abstract:

The American public will pay a high price indeed for the clandestine nature of the VAT. We will be mulcted of a large and increasing amount of funds, extracted in a hidden but no less burdensome manner, just at a time when the government seemed to have reached the limit of the tax burden that the people will allow. It will be funds that will aggravate the burdens on the already long-suffering average middle-class American. And to top it off, the VAT will cripple profits; injure competition, small business, and new creative firms; raise prices; and greatly aggravate unemployment. It will pit consumers against business, and intensify conflicts within society.

I urge you, dear reader, to read this essay. It is as relevant today as when it was written thirty-eight years ago.