The value-added tax in the United States: A policy window model examination of regressivity as a policy agenda impediment

This study surveyed U.S. policymakers to determine their views on a federal value-added tax (VAT) and tax regressivity. Responses were received from more than half of those who served on the two congressional tax-writing committees or in Executive Branch tax policy positions from 1980 through 1990. These responses were analyzed in conjunction with results of a policy-oriented organization survey and an extensive legislative history search.; Based on an alternative approach to policy formulation examination developed by John W. Kingdon, convergence of separate problems, policies, and politics streams were assumed to provide the most likely opening of a "policy window" and the adoption of new policy, in this case a VAT. Key VAT decision factors or variables identified as belonging in the various streams were examined to determine their relative importance in VAT policy consideration and support decisions.; Regressivity concerns were identified as being among those most frequently and intensely expressed during the discussion and debate of the VAT issue in the United States. Democrats ranked them somewhat higher in importance than did Republicans, who tended to place more importance on such issues as the effects a VAT might have on the economy and whether a VAT would simply encourage more federal spending. Despite such differences in emphasis on concerns, however, more than half of the policymakers surveyed indicated that they would support a VAT under some circumstances.; This study concludes that U.S. policymakers view tax regressivity as politically unacceptable; and, because policymakers perceive a federal VAT as regressive, it would probably be politically unacceptable. The study also finds that if concerns about regressivity were addressed in a comprehensive manner, along with other concerns identified in the study, serious VAT consideration--and perhaps even adoption--might follow.