now that bruce bartlette's editorial advocating a value added tax (VAT) has hit the blogisphere, the debate about instituting a VAT tax is in the air (see e.g.). i'm mostly agnostic about the merits of the proposal, though from what little i know about it, it seems to be a pretty regressive tax. but i honestly am not knowledgeable enough to participate much in the debate.
still i'm excited about the very existence of the debate. any talk of a VAT tax is sure to generate plenty of instances of RAS syndrome. the "RAS" stands for "redundant acronym syndrome." once you become aware of the phenomenon, examples are everywhere: "DC comics", "ATM machine", "HIV virus", "PIN number", etc. for some reason i find this stuff to be endlessly entertaining.
so bring on the VAT tax debate! i may not participate, but i will surely be watching with interest.
