Senator Pelosi has said a lot of dumb things in the past, but this one is really amazing.

http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/10646#frame_top

Now, she wasn't advocating it, per se.  Instead she said we should "put it on the table" and analyze it. 

But her poor reasoning for having a VAT is just astounding.  She thinks it will "level the playing field" and also wouldn't result in a tax increase on the middle-class.  It might not be a direct income tax increase on the middle class, but it would most definitely result in middle-class American families feeling the additional tax burden in the price of everything they buy.  We are not leveling the playing field by increasing the price of American goods versus foreign goods.  It will kill whatever manufacturing is left in America.