The conservative movement will never have credibility in the area of economics if they ever made that claim. Let's leave that to "Americans for Fair Taxation" and keep our distance from them.
The VAT and sales tax are known as "equivalent" taxes to economists.
But you ignore the fact that the VAT falls short in the critical area of visibility.
Hidden taxation is the free-spending politicians' playground.
The VAT also falls short in terms of efficiency.
If they are economically 'exactly the same', as you say, then why in the world would you want to complicate everything, adding huge compliance burdens to business?
The only possible reason for supporting that is if you WANT the tax load to be hidden from the American people.
Please supply some of theses economists statements. A VAT and NRST are totally different and not equivelent in effect.