[kevkrom]

that under the FairTax, while your rate is well known, the total amount you spend in tax is difficult to determine

Nonsense. And I'm sick of this canard.

How much did you spend over the course of a year? Simple -- take your income from all sources and subtract your net savings, multiply that by the NRST (tax-inclusive) rate, and there's your total taxes paid.

For effective taxation, subtract twelve times the monthly FCA "prebate" from the total taxes you paid out.

The only way this gets anywhere even close to complicated is if a significant portion of your purchases are for used/previously-taxed goods, which would not be subject to the NRST -- the total amount spent here would need to be subtracted from the "income minus savings" total before calculating taxes. Other than that exception, however, this whole idea of having to add up each receipt is laughably pointless.

[Dimples]

Sound like you're describing a 1040 form, with Schedules A, B, and C, possibly a Schedule D. Of course if you have rental income you'd need additional schedules. Right. simple.

Except under the FairTax I have no W-2s or 1099s to get my totals from (I have to do that myself.)

If you are capable of performing the accounting gymnastics you outline, then the income tax well within your grasp, and the FairTax will be just as much accounting work (probably more, since there is no summary accounting.

Try some Pepto Bismol ... that might help the sickness ;-)