What about the money that I earn via direct income?
Why don't I have a right to all of that as well, considering the payroll tax or income tax?
Surely the government has no right to confiscate the direct value I know I've created.
How about this: it's a form of multiple taxation. You pay income taxes when you earn the money. You pay taxes when you bequeath it to your children. Your children pay VAT taxes when they finally spend it. It's inefficient and unnecessary.
All but four states in the US have a general sales tax
From an economic standpoint, yes, a sales tax literally is identical to VAT. The difference is in the point at which the payment is collected; the incidence of the tax is absolutely identical.
> even what in the US is called a “general” sales tax applied to a far more limited set of end products than a VAT would usually apply to.
That's really not true at all.
That is the estate tax. If don't have estate tax, then capital gains are never taxed.
Currently, the tax basis for capital gains is stepped up to current value when inherited. It would be reasonable to not require capital to be sold to pay estate tax. That could be accomplished by not resetting the basis on inheritance.