OldStyle -
Actually, I'm a little right of centre, politically.
This shouldn't mean common sense has to leave the building, and espousing a model in which 1% of Americans control 38% of the wealth is neither conservatism nor democracy - it's plutocratic tyranny.
As mentioned, governments right around the world sought to increase their tax take in light of the recession, as revenues fell away in other forms of taxes. Luckily, in most genuine democracies it is possible to act for the government to act to the benefit of the economy, whereas in the US, the politics are so childish the country seems unable to save itself.
One example of this - the US is now the only democracy in the world without VAT - the most effective way of reaping income from the shadow economy, and distributing the tax burden across those who consume. It's a tax backed by every conservative party in the world - except in the US. Why?
Because two party politics have simply locked your government into a straightjacket, in which politicans will not do what they know they should do.
As for why we don't have a value added tax here in the US? Good luck getting Democrats to vote for what is essentially a "regressive" tax! That SO isn't going to be happening under this Administration. I'm sure that conservatives here in the US WOULD support a VAT as long as it wasn't an additional tax levied above and beyond what is already being assessed because it broadens the tax base and forces more people to have "skin" in the game so to speak. You are never going to get progressives to go for that however because it would mean that millions of people who now pay zero Federal tax would henceforth be paying and if the Dems allowed THAT to happen they would lose their entitlement base.
Here's a novel concept...how about we eliminate government waste...keep taxes where they are or restructure the tax code to broaden the tax base while eliminating loopholes? That would actually FIX things.