Stop the VAT!

The worst-kept secret in Washington is that President Obama and Speaker Nancy Pelosi want to use the new deficit panel to introduce a value-added tax (VAT). The VAT would function like a national sales tax, in addition to the many taxes we already pay. It’s not an answer to our budget crisis–European nations, for example, use the VAT and are still deeply in debt. Rather, it’s a way for Congress to avoid any fiscal responsibility.

Pelosi appointed Rep. Jan Schakowsky to the deficit panel precisely because Rep. Schakowsky likes raising taxes. The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste recently gave her a rating of 0%, the worst in the House of Representatives, judging her “hostile” to taxpayers. Rep. Schakowsky will be there to block the reform proposals of new leaders like Rep. Paul Ryan. She is a sure vote for the VAT on the deficit panel.

Residents of the 9th congressional district have had enough of tax increases. We already pay some of the highest sales taxes in the country, and Rep. Schakowsky’s allies in Springfield want to raise state income taxes. But instead of listening to the people, Rep. Schakowsky is ignoring us, pretending we all agree with her bad voting record–such as voting for a health care bill that is full of “unexpected” costs.

When you disagree with Rep. Schakowsky, she attacks. Today, Rep. Schakowsky has sent an e-mail to her mailing list in which she compared critics of the health care bill to “clog[s] in a drain.” This is the exact language used by her husband, convicted felon Robert Creamer, who wrote recently that the health care bill was part of “the Drano theory of history”–clear out one “clog” and you can force the rest of the agenda through.

The language–and the policy agenda–used by Rep. Schakowsky is so nearly identical to the radical strategy laid out by Creamer that it seems likely he is actively writing her campaign materials. Regardless, Rep. Schakowsky shares his radical agenda and is working with Nancy Pelosi to push it through Congress. The VAT is a key step in that plan, yet it is a regressive tax that punishes the poor and destroys jobs and opportunity.

We can stop the VAT–and Rep. Schakowsky–by voting for a fresh start this November!