23% on consumption would be more stiffiling to the economy than a 17% income tax....on all earners. The 17% might even be lowered after we see the amount of revenue it generates.
A tax on consumption replacing the income tax is also unfair to the retired folks that normally do not pay income tax.
A side point, Flat Tax would let the IRS survive....albeit in much diminished mode. I don't think the Democrats will ever vote to eliminate the IRS, and unfortunately we need their votes to pass anything.
And, I doubt that even a 23% Sales Tax would eliminate the IRS. A huge underground economy would spring up to avoid paying the sales tax. The IRS might even become bigger - someone would have to police transactions to see that the "Fair" tax is paid.
Right now all they have to do is keep track of each employee....under a "Fair" tax they would want to know how many groceries you buy and how many times you eat out, when you bought a car and took the dog to the vet!
That's kind of bogus. It's not in the proposal, and in any case it's not the responsibility of the individual to pay the tax. They'll be after businesses who seek to avoid paying. Since the tax is only on retail transactions, this drastically reduces the number of businesses who have to collect the taxes. A retail operation which has any serious revenue at all is pretty easy to spot in a sales tax audit. These businesses are self-identifying, since they have to get a business license, perhaps a corporate charter, to legally do business with you.
The upshot is a drastic increase in efficiency of tax collection, combined with an tremendous decrease in the amount of power the federal government has over you, personally. The states which collect income tax will have to come around because they will have a net outflow of business and manufacturing to states which do not.