[mad_as_he$$]

I will try to splain this to you one more time. ALL costs will not go down magically 23%. Many things will actually cots more per item after you account for your dreaded embedded taxes. So MANY things will now cost 1-10% MORE after removing the embedded taxes than they do now. Then you stick 23% on them and the effect on the consumer is actually more than a 23% increase. Restaurant will be one key place where this will happen. Suppliers will NOT reduce their prices by 23% and in agriculture the middle man is king and yes you can try the it only takes one to reduce his price bit but that means you have no clue how food gets to the table. There is a big difference between 10% labor content items and 35% labor content. If you cannot understand that then I am truly suspect of your claims about how you make a living.

A one stick band aid is a non starter in the real world. that is one reason the current system works is because it is self adjusting for labor content.

[DivaDelMar]

I’ve never suggested that nominal prices will remain constant. NEVER. I have consistently maintained that purchasing power will remain constant when the Fair Tax is implemented. The Fair Tax changes the point at which the tax is collected. To the extent that your purchases exceed the poverty level, everyone will pay tax out of their gross pay. The question, properly framed, compares purchasing power pre-Fair Tax and purchasing power post-Fair Tax.

Removing the embedded taxes cannot possibly raise the nominal pre-tax price of an item. Your suggestion that “Many things will actually cost more per item after you account for your dreaded embedded taxes. So MANY things will now cost 1 - 10 % more after removing the embedded taxes than they do now” is nothing short of absurd. Simply removing a component of cost cannot increase the nominal price of the item.

If suppliers and retailers did not reduce prices in response to market forces, Wal-Mart would be a failure.