[ninenot]

I like the consumption tax, too. It will never happen, insofar as there are 12 bazillion lobbyists who favor the current labrynth, and NOBODY (to speak of) who prefers the consumption tax--which has the additional disadvantage of being progressive by its very nature--thus the Upper Class doesn't want it, either.

[phil_will1]

"It will never happen...."

I disagree, the FairTax proposal is picking up quite a bit of momentum. As one poster on here said, the more people study it, the better they like it. We are up to 46 co-sponsors on the House bill now, one of which is Majority Leader Tom Delay.

However, the real reason we will have FTR is that we won't have a choice, at least long-term. The current system is doubling in size and complexity every 25 years, with no slowdown in sight. If that continues, this system will be approaching 100,000 pages by the time children born this year reach tax-paying age. I don't expect to ever see that happen - the system will collapse of its own enormous weight before we ever reach 100,000 pages.

Therefore, I am of the opinion that we WILL have FTR, the only question is when. Will it be before or after the current system collapses? Time will tell.