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That I can agree with. Now all we have to do is fix the Fair Tax concept so we can accept it.

When you expose a legitimate problem with the FairTax I don't know of a FairTax supporter who would not seek to address it but PLEASE keep in mind that the key word in that sentence is LEGITIMATE.

I have read a number of your posts to this thread and cannot find any such fault that you have exposed. You do seem to not realize that your after tax savings are taxed again today under the income tax just not openly.

• The FairTax ensures Social Security’s soundness by funding it with a progressive, broad-based national retail sales tax, rather than the current regressive, narrow payroll tax.

• The FairTax rebate zeros the retail taxation of necessities, up to poverty-level spending, for seniors.

• The FairTax repeals the taxation of Social Security benefits and adjusts Social Security indexing to protect seniors.

• The FairTax ends all record keeping and income tax filings of any kind for seniors, totally insulating them from the high costs and abusive tactics of tax preparers.

• The FairTax does not tax used goods, giving low-income seniors choices.

• The FairTax reduces manufacturers’, services’, and retailers’ costs, allowing them to lower costs to seniors.

• The FairTax delivers a tax holiday on IRAs and other tax-deferred plans.

• The FairTax ends gift and estate taxes, along with all of the unfairness to heirs and complex planning for those who earned the money.

• The FairTax allows seniors to sell their homes and pay no capital gains taxes.

• The FairTax generates an economic boom, which eases future budget pressure on seniors’ entitlements.

• The FairTax lowers average remaining lifetime tax rates.

• The FairTax ensures your grandchildren have the same opportunity you did.

When you expose a legitimate problem with the FairTax I don't know of a FairTax supporter who would not seek to address it but PLEASE keep in mind that the key word in that sentence is LEGITIMATE.

Perhaps the biggest flaw with the Fair Tax is the fact that it's supporters are both rabid and blind.

The issues I have pointed out are very legitimate. Double taxation on pre-Fair Tax savings and the inability to ensure the death of the 16th Amendment prior to enacting the Fair Tax are both deal breakers in mine and many other's opinions.

The fact that the Fair Tax rate is also obscenely high (in CA I'll be paying a 38.25% exclusive rate on every purchase made) is another problem that needs to be addressed.

Yes, your laundry list is, for the most part, true and reasonable. Yes the current tax system is more flawed. Yes I want to get rid of it. Yes I hope that the transparency of a Fair Tax like system will allow us to start shrinking the government by destroying entitlements (although you seem more than happy to keep them and fund them.)

I will not, however, condone replacing one flawed system with another.

As it stands now the Fair Tax is still flawed and until its advocates recognize that and take steps to correct these flaws the Fair Tax is DOA.

The “Fair Tax” would be a worst case scenerio for my wife and I. We have both been working very hard full-time for about 25 years (in our late 40’s) paying an average of 38% in combined taxes per year, living frugally and saving as much as possible. In about a year, we plan on selling our California home, moving into an existing mobile home on my parents property, and helping them out in their old age for about 6 months of the year, and living off the interest on our savings (interest should come to about $25K/year...little or no income tax, due to “progressive” Calif./Fed tax rates). For the other 6 months we plan to buy a truck/RV combo ($50K or so) and travel the country until we get to be about 60-67 years old (our 401K’s, pension, Social Security?? kick in then). We then take our savings and build a new home for our later years. So for us under a “Fair-Tax”, the double-taxation would begin immediately, starting with the truck/RV $50K purchase, and then later on with the site-built home??? Not sure if “Fair-Tax” sales taxes would apply to building a new home on property you own. Fortunately I think the chances of the “Fair-Tax” passing in anything near it’s current form are low, maybe 1 in 1000 or less.