Any opening to a VAT is the complete end to our way of life. The VATs in Europe range from 17% to a mindblowing 25%. Hence, everything is a major purchase. McDonalds value meals can be as much as $15 and a pair of Levis, $125. Apply those types of prices to near everything.
I love the idea of the 51% who currenly pay nothing paying something too but i know where 999 will lead. They’ll get credits (checks back from the taxpayer) and we will get ever rising consumer prices.
The 51% don’t pay nothing. They pay no income tax (because they have kids and get the Earned Income Tax Credit). But they pay lots of other taxes, payroll, sales, property, and hidden taxes, like the cost of corporate income tax in everything they buy. But they don’t have any reason to care if income tax is raised. One reason I like the fair tax is that everyone would feel any tax increase.
If the NRST was a VAT, then you’d be making sense.