The Value-Added Tax : Springer : 9780792390022 : 0792390024 : 28 Feb 1989 : IF, WHEN YOU SAY "CONSUMPTION TAX , " YOU MEAN . . . by Ernest S. Christian, Jr. and Cliff Massa III Much has been said and written about consumption taxes in the United States, but mostly in a theoretical context. Dozens of schol­ arly treatises have been published, along with innumerable papers and speeches most of which were more argumentative than illumi­ nating in nature. Audiences have sat through uncounted confer­ ences on the merits or evils of consumption taxes, depending on the speakers' perspectives. There have been only three comprehensive legislative proposals to which these theories and arguments could be 1 applied, no one of which was acted upon in the Congress. Purveyors of conventional wisdom have suggested that this theo­ retical context might be replaced within a year or two by actual con­ sideration of a federal-level consumption tax. Some see enactment of such a tax as a desirable -- or at