"You aren't changing the number of people paying, you are changing what they are paying it on."
To some extent I can agree with this. Everyone pays some portion of the Federal burden in the price of goods. However, many (approximately half) of the country does not pay any income tax at all, and some even come out ahead. So, really what is happening is just an equalization of the rate for everyone.
However, many (approximately half) of the country does not pay any income tax at all, and some even come out ahead.But we aren't talking about replace just the income tax, we are also replacing the payroll tax. The majority of people pay more in payroll tax than in income tax.