I agree - resist VAT at all costs.
A national sales tax is much fairer all round - as long as it replaces income tax and is not in addition to income tax, (like that will ever happen
).
Having lived and worked in Europe for many years, I have first-hand experience of how insidious VAT is. If I remember correctly, it started off at 7.5% (in the UK). It's now at 20%.
And as LowSlowT2 says, it gets added every time a sale is made, whether raw materials to make a product, or the product itself - at all stages from manufacturer to final point of sale.