[GeorgefromGeorgia]

There is some serious math in this piece. I cannot comment on its accuracy, but I like moving from a tax that taxes achievement to one that taxes consumption.

[goldstategop]

If you invest and save money, it would not be taxed. If you take it out and spend it, then the bill really comes home doesn't it? We can always exempt food, basic medical care, clothing and gas from the tax - a life basket of essential goods and services and tax everything else at a higher rate.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus

[Skeptic2]

I have a question about the transition.

All my life, I saved, say, $1000/yr of after-tax money for my retirement. With a marginal income tax rate of, say, 20%, that means I had to earn $1250 pretax to save each $1000 after tax each year for forty years.

All of a sudden, however, the switch to a "Fair Tax" turns that money back into pretax money; when I spend it, I pay another 20+% of it to the government. The "Fair Tax" turns out to be a Double Tax of my retirement savings. That, to put it mildly, is an extremely unpleasant surprise.

Can someone tell my why that's "Fair"?