Levin Says There Is No Plan for a VAT

Rep. Sander Levin (D-Michigan), the new chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said during a speech before the National Press Club in Washington, DC, on April 19 focusing on taxes that he has heard “no one in our ranks discuss” imposing a value-added tax (VAT) on Americans’ consumption. He said the issue was “being raised by Republicans for political gain,” and that “by next week it will be gone.” The comments on a potential VAT came during a question and answer session with reporters following his prepared remarks, during which Levin raised the issue of the Federal estate tax. “I’m a lawyer,” he said, “and I did a little estate planning myself,” but he said “we should keep the middle-income tax cuts and let the ones for the wealthy expire.”

Responding to a question on whether the entire tax system should be overhauled, Levin said “we have immediately in front of us the 2001-03 tax cuts, and the estate tax,” so “comprehensive tax reform is an issue for next year, not this year.”