And keep in mind this point if the FairTax becomes the tax law and TN decides to conform its sales taxes to the FairTax:
Most sales tax laws are a riot of exemptions, exceptions, carved out politiacal favors and almost none tax services to any great extent. If TN decides to conform its sales taxes, then the state tax base becomes several times larger. I haven't looked specifically at TN, but for most states it would cause a decline to something like 1/3 or 1/4 of the present rate - or in some cases even less. This would still be revenue neutral for the state and offer all of the sales tax simplicity.
Great points...very true!