A sign reads "We assume the VAT tax rate increase. We step on the VAT tax rate" as a woman looks around at a shoe store in Madrid September 4, 2012. As of September 1, Spain's VAT tax rate surged to 21% on a range of goods and services as part of a government plan to boost revenues and cut the deficit and avoid a full-blown European bailout. Cash-strapped Spanish consumers and small business owners adjust to a higher value-added tax imposed to cut the public deficit while the country's second recession in three years drags on.