Sri Lanka and other countries have benefited from value added tax and there is no evidence to support a claim made by some that VAT is regressive, a top economist who has studied the matter in several countries said.
A claim usually made by those who favour direct taxes, where the rulers take away part of the wealth created by people before a gainful economic transaction is decided and made by the citizens themselves, is that value added tax is regressive.
Source: economynext.com