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No, I haven’t read much about it, nor will most of the people who will vote on such a thing if it ever makes it that far. I honestly want to know, from an advocate of it (as you seem to be) , why I would want it as the average voter who wants tax reform.

I would not vote for it based so far on what I know of it. I may go read the bill, but so far I haven’t seen enough “pro” (on this thread or others) to think its worth my time to research.

Thanks for your answers though, I appreciate you taking the time to answer them.

Probably the main reason I like the fair tax is because it should make the payment of taxes more efficient. Their are some things that I don't like, such as the prebate, but they may be politically necessary in order to make it more "equitable." The main concept is that it costs more than a dollar to pay a dollar's worth of taxes under the current tax system. Now, picking numbers out of the air, but to try and illustrate the point, say that you owe $1 taxes. But because the current code is so complex and disorganized, it takes you an extra 50 cents to pay that dollar. (Accounting fees, time and effort, ect.) The purpose of the fair tax is to consolidate all taxes and ease the transactions so that a dollar of taxes only costs 10 cents to pay. So, although the taxes is the same, you saved money on transaction costs. I don't know the real numbers, but I read the book and just took the word of the economists (which is critiquable). I haven't seen much that convinces me their numbers are too far out of line.

So, the fair tax consolidates all the taxes under one form. This can be problematic since certain accounts are meant to be separate (like Social Security). It also encourages saving and investment, which is important for long run GDP growth, and stops penalizing productivity (income). There are some other issues, like being an embedded tax instead of showing up on a receipt, but I think it's an overall move in the right direction. I'm open to other options, but this is the only one I've seen that does all of the above. The flat tax is also good, but won't get off the ground probably because it's called a "tax cut for the rich." I don't think it combines all the other taxes either, but it has many other desirable attributes. The fair tax is basically a national retail sales tax that's been modified to make it more politically palatable. Obviously, as seen by the many forums, it hasn't become palatable enough, but that may be due to some misunderstandings of the tax itself.

I honestly want to know, from an advocate of it (as you seem to be) , why I would want it as the average voter who wants tax reform.

I'm an advocate as long as we are sure to kill the 16th amendment at the same time. (That's a tall task and I don't underestimate it by any means.)

From an economic standpoint, I do think it makes sense, but that is not what really drives me to be in favor. The biggest reason it it will end the most intrusive and dangerous threat to our freedoms. That is the mandatory reporting of intimate financial details to the central government and the ability of various zealots and social busybodies to manipulate our everyday behavior via the tax code.

As a person nearly ready for retirement who's savings have mostly been taxed already, I don't necessarily care for the fact that a sales tax will hit those assets again. But when I think of my children and grandchildren and the much brighter economic future and freedom from the prying eyes of big government that I have always been subject too, the little double taxation I will experience pails by comparison.

So, yes --- I'm doing it for the children (TM) ;~))