Thank you for the link. Very interesting!
The prebate is there to keep politicians from exempting food from the tax. The idea is to keep the tax pure with no exemptions. I believe, however, that in order for it to pass at least 3 exemptions would have to be added; exemptions for: primary residence, medical expenses and religions.
A new car is actually quite doable. With about 25% more takehome pay (i.e. FICA, medicare & income taxes) a person making $50,000 should be able to save the tax amount on a new car in less than a year. However, a new house with say $35,000 tax paid up front would simply be out of the question for the average person.
An exemption for medical expenses is a no-brainer, since nobody wants the government to profit from somebody’s misfortune.
And, the religious exemption is a requirement to keep a clean separation between church and state.