Walter Hellerstein (Georgia) & Timothy H. Gillis (KPMG) have published The VAT in the European Union, 127 Tax Notes 461 (Apr. 26, 2010):

One of the key issues to be addressed in the United States would be coordinating a federal VAT with state and local retail sales taxes. In addition to having the VAT of broadest application in economic terms, the European Union is in some respects analogous to the United States in the sense that it is a group of states, each with sovereign taxing authority, but with some restraints imposed on them by the existence of the union that they are a part of. How the VATs used by the members of the EU are coordinated with one another may be instructive if a VAT were considered in this country. This article reviews the history, structure, and operation of the EU VAT with an emphasis on the manner in which EU member states deal with cross-border transactions.

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