“The Fair Tax is NOT a vat tax.”
So true. There is a big difference. The proponents of the Fair Tax plan for it to replace the payroll tax and all income tax even on Corporatations. So you would pay a sales tax on any “new items” you purchase. There would be no sales tax on a used car or a pre-owned home. This is different from a VAT tax which is a progressive tax. Everyone would get a “pre-bate” check at the first of every month to re-imburse them up to the poverty line so that the poor are not unduly burdened. The VAT tax hits everyone and is in addition to all other taxes including the income tax.
This a fundamental flaw of the proposed FT unless those folks are also disenfranchised. Everybody needs to have skin in the game so politicians have a VERY difficult time raising the FT rate or the prebate amount.