The greedy bastards in DC want a Value Added Tax

since they think they're not looting us enough now; here's how that's working out in Britain where they just announced they'll raise their VAT:
The measure will generate over £13.4 billion a year of extra revenues for the Treasury by the 2014 to 2015 tax year. "That is £13 billion we don’t have to find from extra spending cuts or income tax rises," Mr Osborne added.
As opposed to, oh, finding it by getting rid of a bunch of bullshit and letting people keep their money, which they would then save some of(making more available for banks to loan and such) and spend the rest of, thus raising the tide. Effing politicians.
Grant Thornton, using the Treasury's own forecasts, calculated that the £13 billion extra equated to an extra tax bill of £517 for each of the 26 million households in Britain. This is even higher than the figure calculated last week by Centre for Economics and Business Research on behalf of Kelkoo, the shopping website, which reckoned that it will add £425 a year to families' shopping bills.

The rise in VAT will push up the price of many basic household items, notably petrol, alcohol, clothing, toiletries, furniture and electrical items.
And, as we know, you push up the price of motor fuel you also increase the cost of every damn thing that involves motor fuel in the manufacture and/or transport of.
KPMG, the accountancy firm, warned that many retailers "teetering on the edge" following from the recession could be "pushed over the edge" by the VAT rise.

Andrew Burrell, Research Partner at King Sturge, a property consultant said: "The killer for retailers and consumers alike is clearly going to be the VAT hike. This was too big a temptation for the coalition to resist, despite the fact that consumer confidence remains extremely fragile and a sudden hike in prices could destabilise the recovery."
Because they're planning on stealing money from other people instead of actually doing something like cutting bullshit from the government; that they just can't bring themselves to do.
CEBR calculated that the poorest households pay disproportionately a higher amount of VAT. The bottom quarter of earners pay 12 per cent of their disposable income in VAT, compared with the top quarter of earners who pay just 6 per cent.
Once again, "We are going to help the poor", by screwing them even worse than they screw the better off.

And for some of the crowning idiocy,
David Buick, at City firm BGC Partners, however pointed out that the richest consumers still paid the most, if not proportionately, then certainly in actual money. "This tax could raise an extra £13 billion in a year and it is not as socially debilitating as Labour would have us believe. After all, the wealthier will spend the most and buy the most goods."
Ah, so you'll claim you're screwing the 'richest' consumers worse and that makes it all better? Mr. Buck, has it occurred to you that those 'richer' people buying things, goods and services, actually helps other people? And if you discourage them from spending, those people don't get that help?

Once again, that quote from Quint: "It's enough to piss off the Good Humor man."