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value-added tax (VAT), levy imposed on business at all levels of the manufacture and production of a good or service and based on the increase in price, or value, provided by each level. Because the consumer ultimately pays a higher price for the taxed commodity, a VAT is essentially a hidden sales tax. Originally introduced in France (1954), it is now a major part of the tax structure of most Western European nations. In the early 1990s the U.S. government considered instituting a VAT to fund national health care programs.
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