Obama promised not to increase "ANY" taxes for 95% of Americans - Oops!

National sales tax debate begins to stir
from the UPI
Published: May 27, 2009

WASHINGTON, N.Y., May 27 (UPI) -- Some key U.S. economic advisers have said a federal sales tax should be considered an option to help balance the books and pay for healthcare reform.

An unthinkable political option in years past, a budget deficit projected at $3.1 trillion over this year and next and a trillion dollar extension of national health coverage proposed by President Barack Obama have pushed a so-called value-added tax closer to serious national debate, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.

The chairman of the Senate Budget Committee Kent Conrad, D-N.D. has declared that "a VAT and a high-end income tax have got to be on the table."

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker has expressed cautious support for a national sales tax. White House Budget Director Peter Orszag has hired Ezekiel Emanuel, a strong proponent of a value-added tax as a consultant on healthcare reform, the Post said.

Orszag spokesman Kenneth Baer said the system, considered a regressive tax, "is popular with academics but highly controversial with policymakers."

"People are beginning to recognize that the mathematics of the current system are just unsustainable," said Yale Law professor Michael Graetz.

"A VAT has got to be on the table if you want to do something big and serious," he said.

Obama's Economic Board has yet to meet publicly-Hold a big press conference to impress the public with all the high profile members, then do nothing!

Obama's all about getting his mug on TV - That's right! Hold a big press conference to impress the public with all the high profile members you've appointed to this board, and then have them do nothing!

from Politico

March 23, 2009

by JOSH GERSTEIN

Six weeks after President Barack Obama appointed a blue-ribbon panel to help him dig America out of its economic crisis, the board has yet to hold an official public meeting.

The White House initially said that the 16-member Presidential Economic Recovery Advisory Board, headed by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, would meet “every few weeks.” Last month, a spokesperson told POLITICO the group would meet monthly. More recently, the White House said the high-powered board, set up to address what Obama has called the worst economic emergency since the Great Depression, would gather only about four times a year, with the next session due in “late spring.”

But comments from board members and Obama himself indicate that some members of the panel are meeting, in smaller gatherings that have not been announced or opened to the public. And that raises the question of whether an administration that prides itself on openness and transparency is in fact finding it more convenient to conduct public business in private.

Now, the administration finds itself in a Catch-22: It does not want to say that the president’s economic panel, announced amid much fanfare, is not meeting during the worst economic crisis in generations. But if it is meeting, where’s the announcement, the agenda, the minutes? In short, where’s the sunshine? “

If the president wants to talk to his advisory committee, it seems to me he ought to do that in the open,” said Sidney Shapiro, a law professor at Wake Forest University. “There ought to be accountability for private people who address the government. It seems to me it becomes even more important, not less important, when you have a presidential advisory committee.”

Asked about Obama’s right to solicit candid suggestions, Shapiro said, “If he wants private advice, he should pick up the telephone. He can call anybody he wants. If he wants to form a presidential advisory committee, they ought to meet in public.”

Through an aide, one board member told POLITICO of a board meeting at the White House on Feb. 26. The White House did not respond to a question about that session.

So far, none of the commission members’ meetings have been public or officially announced in accordance with the 1972 federal law which governs such groups, the Federal Advisory Committee Act, or FACA.

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