one of the most consistent trends across countries has been moves towards an increasing proportion of government revenue coming from consumption taxes. This particularly intensified with the creation of the common Market, where numerous number states rapidly reduced or eliminated excise taxes, increased the rate of sales taxes, and shifted them towards the 'value added tax' (VAT) model. Member states within the EU were generally faster to introduce VAT than other countries, with the initial member states generally adopting it in 1972, 'whereas the rest of the OECD took almost 15 years more, and the US has yet to introduce it' (Kemmerling,2010:1065).