As long as there are Democrats lurking in the halls of Washington, D.C. the "Fair Tax" will always be nothing more than a VAT.
The VAT is a stoooopid idea. We already have a similar concept with corporate income taxes. Corporations should NOT have to pay income taxes. The consumers of goods and services should UNDERSTAND what their costs of goods and services are. Again, Economics, Accounting, Finance 101 are in order to anyone who does not understand simple logic.