Allow me to parse that:
I prefer to remain a slave to the government and report all my income and it's sources. I want the government to tell me how much of my money it wants, how much I am allowed to keep for myself and my family. Finally, I prefer that the government decide what happens to my estate when I die. The last thing that I want is for my widow and kids to get it.
A little harsh? Perhaps, but that is precisely what you are asking for when you say you want to keep an income tax in place. The first income tax was flat. Look at it now. There are 50,000 pages of convoluted, contradictory mess loaded with special favors and an armed army to make sure that you didn't cheat the government.
Is that what you really want? If so, trade in your battle cry for a white flag of surrender.
You are the pithy one, aren't you.
Do not suppose to speak on my behalf. I am quite capable of speaking my own mind on this issue. It's a VAT - period.
What you see in it, what benefit it provides you or what dog you may have in this fight, I will not deign to surmise. As for me, I don;t relish a VAT that can get ratcheted up and up and up with little or no accountability by those who run the program.