Unrelated issue: In Alaska we 'mostly' have no sales tax as well as no State income tax. I don't know if it is true now, but there was a time last millenium when if I wanted to buy goods while visiting Washington State, which had an 8% sales tax, I could show my Alaska driver's license and be exempted the tax. I never tried this on anything very costly but I remember saving money on a pile of books.
Meanwhile, it's not that we don't pay any taxes. There are hefty property taxes in the main cities. And we have traditionally collected more re-apportionment moneys from the federal government because we are a border state with a heavy federal presence, particularly with some long serving Republican presence in the central government.
Back to VAT: There are American leaders who propose VAT for us. I think it is understandable, but pernicious. Once you go VAT, you won't go back. It is the reason we Americans fought for our independence in the first place, it separates the tax from the citizen (taxation without representation) and pays for a lot of pencil pushers who are not necessary for the regulations they support. It would be a case of a self-sustaining regulatory body. They are paid to install the regulations that assure that they get paid. And 20% is no joke. And with technology you don't really need the bureaucrats. You have computers to maintain a lot of the load, and if you pay for good maintenance, you can get the job done efficiently for not so much money.
The dangers of enslavement remain, however.