If You Only Knew How Much You Were Really Being Taxed

SEE HERE There would be a revolution if Americans fully comprehended how much they are really taxed. All they see is the withholding bill, not all the hidden taxes imposed by regulations, unfunded entitlements that expand state taxes, the reports and constraints on the market that make everything cost more than it should and the costs companies have to pass on to their consumers in the form of higher prices so they can pay for the overhead that government creates. Well enter VAT. If you don't know what VAT is that isn't too surprising. It's a Value Added Tax imposed at every step of a good's manufacture and it is a hidden tax. It is part of the reason we are competitive relative to Europe because they have it and we don't. Worse it is a hidden tax because you don't see it. It's paid by manufacturers just as you don't really see the corporate taxes that government imposes on business because they are passed on to you in prices that companies have to charge to recover the costs imposed by government. Part of the problem is that Americans are probably the worst educated people on the planet when it comes to economics. Too bad. What you don't know doesn't not hurt you, it cripples you because since you don't know it, you can't combat it. Welcome to ever bigger government suckers. We need to do something about this, but if you're a happy camper, thinking the nanny welfare state gives a damn about you, then you're unlikely to even notice when you're getting shafted.