Do you think there is not a lot of etc., in today's system? That is why it is so long and so complicated, it is full of etc. The K-Street lobbyists exist to impose etc. on the rest of us. How else does a code get to be 60,000 pages long and weigh more than Big Bertha? It is full of etc.
The Fair Tax is not perfect because people are not perfect. It is not immune to abuse because people are imperfect, especially many who are seduced by the spotlight and ego building perks of politics. But it will start out without all the etc. that is in the present system and we can try hard to keep it that way.
To cling to the bad until the perfect comes along is a fools game, and I know you are not a fool.
As you say, I think that most of our existing tax code is "etc".
But I also think the K-Street lobbyists would "help" draft any so-called "Fair Tax" to exempt "necessary" goods and services from that tax.
Isn't baby-formula a "necessity"?
Isn't telephone service a "necessity"?
Isn't heating oil a "necessity"?
Isn't "etc" a "necessity"
Therefore, before saddling our economy with a "stealth" Value-Added Tax, I'd like to see our tax-cutting efforts directed to:
(1) keep the marginal tax rates coming down
(2) broaden the tax base by:
a) making more of our currently "tax-exempt"
entities pay tax
b) restricting the ability of so-called "non-profit"
entities to avoid tax.
c) placing a "cap" on the amount of charitable
contributions that may be tax-deductible on
individual tax returns.
d) denying deductibility to any "charitable
contribution" which is not cash
(3) require each Congressman to prepare his own tax return, line by line, without the help of any lawyer or accountant.