FICA and income taxes are hidden. The hundreds of taxes buried in the price of a new car (except the sales and registration taxes) are hidden. Got the distinction?
John / Billybob
I'll grant you the importance of paying the tax out of pocket (as you might guess, I favor the elimination of withholding over the FairTax.) However the rest of your description of a "hidden tax" doesn't wash. I get a "receipt" twice a month from my employer telling me EXACLTY how much income and payroll tax I paid (both for the period and the year.) If I want to I can double the FICA tax a know the total income and payroll tax paid by me or on my behalf. The total of the income and doubled payroll tax represents over 85% of my total Federal Tax burden (and likely more, unless I'm paying Gift/Estate taxes ... which also not hidden.) By the end of the year, I'll know, out in the open, over 90% of my Federal Burden.
The rest, about 10%, it truly hidden. But I know what it is to a higher degree of accuracy than if I had to add up the tax on over 5,000 receipts per year (presuming I could even get my family to save them all) and deduct my prebate.
Of the "hundreds" of taxes buried in the price of a new car, MOST of them are unaffected by the FairTax. Only Payroll, Income, and Profit taxes are affected, all the excises remain. If there are truly "hundreds" (and I suspect that to be a bit of hyperbole), the FT only eliminates three. (New cars don't contain Estate/Gift taxes ... the only other tax the FT eliminates.)