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Politics : The Trump Presidency -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Steve Lokness who wrote (4690)	1/4/2017 2:55:39 PM
From: bentway	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 354337

Steve, we know you reflexively hate Krugman, and dispute everything he says, but he's right on the VAT.

To: Steve Lokness who wrote (4690)	1/4/2017 5:11:01 PM
From: Katelew	Respond to of 354337

Actually, we are coming at the same issue from two different sides. You looking at sales taxes and VATS as a source of government revenue, while I'm focused on how much each one adds to the final cost of the import and the export. Krugman's position is simply that VATs are the same as sales taxes in that both add to the cost of a product. He has written before along these lines in other articles. So if someone asks him in an interview or a publication "Are VATs unfair to American exporters", he'll fall back on this premise. He curiously ignores the fact that VATs can be substantially higher in % terms that are sales taxes. It is this difference that creates the unfair or unlevel playing field in the import-export arena. The fact that VATs vary from one country to another and even can vary on different product classsifications within the same country makes for a sizeable problem. Trump will need an army of negotiators in the State Dept. to help out our export manufacturers. If he does this, it will give those manufacturers even more reasons to stay put and even add American workers. I hope he puts it front and center. Trade was always my number one reason to vote Trump.