I have just started reading this book but it is giving my insight into American Homelanders and the desire for citizenship based taxation. Many of the claims cited in the book from the late 1800s are quite similar to those Prof. Kirsch and Co. make today.
http://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/history/economic-history/making-modern-american-fiscal-state-law-politics-and-rise-progressive-taxation-18771929
Here is an excerpt.
At the end of the day the US relies too much on income tax. It 1917 it goes from 33% to nearly 60% in 1930 as a percentage of federal tax receipts.
The US needs to bring in a federal VAT and start taxing people as they spend it like the rest of the world. It’s insane to be chasing ex-pats for little amounts of tax revenue abroad and sticking FFIs with billions of costs to comply with FATCA when a VAT will make a real impact on American’s budget woes.
I’m sorry if Uncle Sam is broke he’s going to have to go elsewhere (namely Homelanders)..
The US doesn’t want a VAT because VAT’s are most associated with a former Canadian politician named Monsieur Brian Mulroney whom to this day is hated by many over his introduction of the GST.
http://www.cbc.ca/archives/categories/politics/federal-politics/federal-politics-general/mulroney-stacks-senate-to-pass-the-gst.html
http://www.cbc.ca/archives/categories/politics/federal-politics/federal-politics-general/1990-canadians-to-face-more-taxes-with-the-new-gst.html
As there is a justified fear that a VAT would simply become an ADDITIONAL taxation on top of income tax (as has been the case everywhere), there is great resistance and it would go nowhere.
They’ve relabeled it as the Fair Tax and it’s been a bill every year with a number of supporters. It has mechanisms to make it progressive at the low end and it’s structure is designed to prevent the creepback of income tax.
There is a contributor here who periodically presents info.
http://fairtax.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/FairTaxOverview1.pdf
Montreal-based Allison Christians refers to fellow law professor Michael Graetz, a long-time proponent of VAT to supersede income tax in her blog post