[Remember_Salamis]

"I agree with you on this, but retirees with savings outside of retirement plans will be adversely affected and they are not a small group either."

-excellent point. Everybody with a 401(k), and IRA, or a pension will greatly benefit from the FairTax. Only Seniors who unfortunately stashed their savings under their matress for 40 years will take a hit. Fact is, most retirees wil greatly benefit.

[undeniable logic]

You don't have to stash savings under a mattress to take a hit. Small Business Owners either don't have quite as easy access to a 401(k), for cost reasons, or have savings substantially higher than that permitted by a 401(k). Roth IRAs, which many people have because they are better under an income tax system, suffer the same problem, because people pay tax up front to avoid future taxes - if there are no future taxes, then people paid unnecessary taxes upfront.

I brought up municipal bonds before and I will refer to them again. No wise investor will invest in municipal bonds in a tax-exempt pension. We know that the municipal bond market is about 2 trillion dollars, so right away we know that there is at a minimum 2 trillion dollars in savings by people who have as you put it, "unforunately stashed their savings under the matress." 2 trillion dollars is not insignificant.

We know that many seniors have a lot of money held in CDs, all this money falls in the same category. What about capital tied up in investment assets, such as real estate, etc. At some point, that money will be spent and taxed and once that happens it has been double taxed, because without switching to the NRST, no federal sales tax would have been paid and no additional income tax is required.

I never understood this one point. At least to me, it is obvious that a lot of wealth will be double taxed. Many people who fall into this category will absolutely be opposed to switching to the NRST. Why will freepers not at least recognize the obvious? My goal is not to bash the NRST, I have stated many times that I strongly prefer the NRST. I just do not believe that with the problems I have discussed it will ever have the support required for passage and am trying to bring about a discussion that could lead to at least a partial solution to the problem.