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“The plan should exempt the poor from tax and allow everyone to meet the necessities of life before paying tax. Once the necessities of life have been met, however, the plan should treat people equally with favoring one set of taxpayers over another and by taxing the same proportion of goods and services they purchase for their own personal use. The plan should not play favorites or reward the politically powerful or well connected.” “allow everyone to meet the necessities of life before paying tax.” BAD NEWS. Necessities differ. The government could reject your housing expenses or allot $300/mo for housing needs because it decides you only ‘need’ one bedroom. It doesn’t matter that your current house has 4 bedrooms costing you $800 a month. The government says you don’t ‘need’ that. You only NEED $100/month for food per individual. You only ‘need’ 3 pairs of underpants, and one coat. You only ‘need’ to have electricity in your house but you don’t ‘need’ to use it. You only ‘need’ one base phone for your business, and not the 6 cell phones you have, to keep your people informed. They only “need’’ a couple of quarters because they can use a pay phone to call their employer instead of that cell phone. You only ‘need’ $12,000 per year to live on, anything else is luxury, and the government is entitled to what it says you don’t ‘need’. The document is a bad news bear with very little thought of the potential impact on the general public, with tons of room to abuse, and confiscate what you don’t ‘need’. From each according to his ability, TO each according to his ‘need’ (however arbitrary the definition of ‘need’ is.). There is no individuality allowed, no room for differences in circumstances, no room to opt out of taxes based on those different circumstances. It opens the door to more micromanagement of individuals, private businesses & corporations resulting in a loss of freedom, and then end of the ‘voluntary’ tax system. Such a plan makes taxes much more permanent and irrevocable. The States might administer it, but the Feds own it which removes power from the states. Currently should the States decide, they can withold taxes. They do have the power to reign in the Feds. Far reaching undesirable implications exist with such a plan.

You have completely misunderstood what the FairTax is about and how it operates. Perhaps you have not read much about it.

It is not "the government" determining your "needs" at all under the FairTax. It's YOU!!!

Each family receives a prebate based solely on family size and that family determines whether it is spent, invested, or given to charity, or stuck under the mattress. Whatever you decide to buy that is taxable (and many things are not) - it's YOUR choice.

It's called Freedom.

Necessities differ. The government could reject your housing expenses or allot $300/mo for housing needs because it decides you only ‘need’ one bedroom.

That's why the FairTax doesn't try to decide what's "necessary". You get a fixed monthly rebate that's roughly equivalent to the tax you would pay for basic needs, but you're free to spend it on whatever you want.