You cut off your reading a bit too early. There is a large exemption for the first X dollars of purchases, thus making the tax progressive.
Besides - on a conservative website, it's generally not good to espouse progressive/liberal points of view. "Poor" is a subjective term - do you consider people with only $26000 in annual income but possessing cars, big screen TVs, cable , cell phones, PS2s, computers, indoor plumbing, and who rank high on the obesity index, to be poor ? I don't, and why should they pay a lower percentage in tax than I do ?
If your conscience hurts you, you give more to charity or set up a soup line or whatever and don't steal my income to assuage your conscience.
No, I read that long ago. I have been over and over the Fair Tax issue. What you mention above is called a kluge. It's a hap-hazard fix to a broken REGRESSIVE taxing system.