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I have been following the petty points raised in opposition to the FairTax in this thread. In particular, the 23 vs 30% discussion, but there are others. I have concluded we may be wasting band width trying to explain it. No one capable of operating a keyboard could really be as dense as they appear. Inclusive vs exclusive is not a difficult concept.

This means there is a hidden agenda somewhere. I believe it is likely some people here are protecting their turf by picking at the FairTax. Lord knows there are a lot of people earning their livelihood in tax compliance. That is a major part of the expense of the IRS system.

So to those tax lawyers, tax accountants, and Turbotax code writers out there, I am sorry if the Fairtax would put you in the category of buggy whip makers. Some of you will find work in the inevitable (but smaller) bureaucracy of the FairTax. To the rest of you, welcome to the productive part of the American economy.

And I am going to spend the day trying to figure out how to pay the correct tax on some stock I sold last year. It was acquired in a company stock plan, which makes it a little more complicated. But that's OK, because we love the income tax so much.

I have made the same argument on several occasion the Kool-aid FTers will tell you "almost all of the accountants" support the FT plan; which of course is pure horsehockeys. Articles in trade journals indicate they are worried about their loss on income but many are concerned that the plan is full of holes and will actually cause revenue to drop and start a recession like we have not seen in years. The shock to the economy has been underestimated by the FTers. Their primary support from an economic point of view is Laurence J. Kotlikoff. Boston University. He did the "modeling" work on the primary support paper for the FT. He was paid for his work and in order to believe it you have to believe in economic models. His modeling missed the economic figures for 2007 when it forecasted it in 2005. So his work is in question.

No doubt many are looking out for their lively hood. I have been accused of being for the IC because I utilize tax credits. Which is pure crap everyone gets benefit of deductions and credits. It is your choice to take advantge of them or not. I see more ways to make money with the FT all of which are loopholes or oversightes - for my personal situation. I am against it because it is not fair and it will cause an economic upheaval in this country of historic proportions.

This means there is a hidden agenda somewhere.

It's not all that hidden really as some of them have openly or inadvertently shown themselves to have a vested interest in the current income tax system and I suspect that the same is true for the rest of them as well.