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I'm not quite sure what you are asking. Could you please clarify?

Your comment was that the tax to be paid depended on what someone would do with the money (not taxed if it's invested, etc.), not the actual sale. On that basis, I maintain this is still an income tax, not a sales tax. It's a tax on what you do with the money after the sale itself is completed (keep it, invest it). Money at that point is income, not a sale.

For me, the key value in a sales tax is if it equally applies to all sales. The tax (and tax rate) should be the same if I sell an hour of my time, or buy a candy bar. When money earned by providing a service someone wants to pay for it taxed differently than a candy bar, it's still an income tax with - if the low-income exclusions still apply - an even worse progressive structure than the current income tax, especially after a year of Democratic control of taxes, when the exclusion will be up so that about 60% of the people pay no 'income' (or pseudo-'flat') tax at all.

For me, the key value in a sales tax is if it equally applies to all sales. The tax (and tax rate) should be the same if I sell an hour of my time, or buy a candy bar. When money earned by providing a service someone wants to pay for it taxed differently than a candy bar, it's still an income tax with - if the low-income exclusions still apply - an even worse progressive structure than the current income tax, especially after a year of Democratic control of taxes, when the exclusion will be up so that about 60% of the people pay no 'income' (or pseudo-'flat') tax at all.

Ok... the NRST, as proposed in HR 25 and supported by Americans for Fair Taxation (AFFT) is a single-stage, single rate retail sales tax that is applied onall consumer services and consumer purchases of new retail goods (tax everything, but only tax it once). Every such good and service is subject to the tax -- no exclusions based on the type of goods or the income or other social status of the purchaser.

The tax is not applied to other transactions. Selling an hour of your time to an employer is not a retail sale, it's a sales of a service to a business -- if this were taxed, not only would it be a hidden, layered tax akin to a VAT, it would essentially be an income tax. Savings and investments are not taxed because they are not retails goods or services (service fees assocaited with personal investments are taxable because they are retial services). Used goods are not taxed because they were taxed once already.

Does this help? From your comments, it seems that you might have misunderstood the concept. Either that, or I'm still not getting your point.