[Sonny M]

I'm a realist not an closed eyed idealist, maybe I am to cynical, but reality is reality, and I know they will never push the fair tax, as long as that darn amendment allowing the income tax is still in the constituion, repeal that first, then get back to me, in the mean time, I'd rather have a flat tax.

[andyk]

in the Supreme Court case Stanton v. Baltic Mining Co., (1916), Chief Justice White delivered the opinion of the court:

"But, aside from the obvious error of the proposition, intrinsically considered, it manifestly disregards the fact that by the previous ruling it was settled that the provisions of the 16th Amendment conferred no new power of taxation, but simply prohibited the previous complete and plenary power of income taxation possessed by Congress from the beginning from being taken out of the category of indirect taxation to which it inherently belonged, and being placed [240 U.S. 103, 113] in the category of direct taxation subject to apportionment by a consideration of the sources from which the income was derived,-that is, by testing the tax not by what it was, a tax on income, but by a mistaken theory deduced from the origin or source of the income taxed."

[pigdog]

The FairTax repeals the income tax and removes and defunds the IRS and requires that income tax records be destroyed and calls for the repeal of the 16th amendment.

The 16th cannot be repealed so long as we have any income-based tax system since that would remove any legal way for the government to raise revenue.

A flat tax has a number of serious disadvantage:

It retains the payroll/withholding system as at present.

It cannot help reduce export prices by border-adjustable taxes from prices.

It does not address the issue of raising more tax funds from the illegal economy - just like the present system.