[Jim Robinson]

"A "national retail sales tax" is not constitutional"

Huh? I believe a sales tax is an excise tax:

Section. 8. The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

[agitator]

As I understand it, and Hamilton spoke to this issue although I can't pull the cite off the top of my head, excises at the time of the adoption were never intended to be as broad-based as a tax on almost everything and he spoke to the avoidablility of an excise tax in relation to the intent of that provision. If Congress were to enact a 10,000% percent tax on tires, gasoline, cigs, and luxury boats, that would be one thing. IMHO, enacting a 30% tax on virtually everything makes the tax unavoidable taking it out the class of excises.