Greece’s financial crisis sure hasn’t done supporters of a U.S. VAT any favors. Critics of the tax can barely contain their glee at the spectacle of a nation with high rates of both income tax and value-added tax being pulled to the brink of fiscal collapse. (At the same time, the Greeks seem to have developed tax dodging to the level of a fine art, as a New York Times reports here.)

With opposition rising, it’s looking increasingly likely that the United States will remain, at least in the short term, the only country in the OECD without a national goods and services tax of some kind. In the worldwide view, though, VAT is not exactly on the defensive. Far from it.

Consumption-based taxes have been expanding as a share of government revenue for many years, and the trend will likely accelerate in the post-recession global economy, according to a new report from KPMG. Countries around the world are tightening up their current VAT systems, and some are launching new ones. Some examples:

China is replacing its VAT and Business Tax system, which currently generates 60 percent of total tax revenue, with a new national credit-offset, invoice-based VAT.

Malaysia plans to introduce a goods and services tax at an initial rate of 4 percent next year.

Oman will likely implement a VAT next year, with the other member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council following suit by the end of 2013.

Plenty here to keep the tax functions of multinational companies busy. As the report remarks, “keeping pace with these changes and actively managing the new, emerging risks and opportunities should now be a key objective for all global businesses.” ###