Actually, consumption (sales taxes if you will) are more stable a tax base than income tax so that there will be fewer revenue fluctuations, not more.
Also, think about what most states are likely to do once the FairTax becomes law. They have no piggybacking mechanism to define income, deductions, etc. and would have to duplicate the entire statutory and enforcement structure along with the expenses thereof on a state basis (rather than have it paid by taxpayers as an unfunded mandate as at present).
The most reasonable thing for most states is probably to subscribe to a FairTax-conforming sales tax themselves. The upshot of that would be that in most states the sales tax rate would decline a good bit rather than increase since not only is the consumption tax base much greater than the income tax base, but the FairTax has no exemptions, deductions, etc. as are presently within all state sales taxes. In other words, even a lower state sales tax would raise more money.
In a state like California, for example, which has a 7.75% (or so depending upon various things) sales tax rate now, the rate would drop to something like 2 or 3% (perhaps less due to all the millions of illegal aliens in the state).
Stop and think - use your common sense. At present, the IRS's own figures for non-compliance and evasion (and that does NOT include illegal income) are about 20-25% of tax revenues each year. That's a huge "couple of bucks" that those defending the Status Quo hope you do not think about. They'd rather you assume the present tax system has no warts (non-compliance, evasion, illegal income) but in fact it is rife with those things and most people would be well-advised to stop and realize it.
Raising the spectre of the boogeyman as they do is disengenuous as well as inaccurate.
Not once have I defended the IRS on here.
But when I see the words "National Sales Tax" then right along side it "27%" and then right alongside that "state and federal contract, but the feds will get the lions share"
It doesn't matter how you rip people off if in the end you're still ripping them off.
It's clear that no one who ever devised any tax scheme has ever thought it true, that's why it all becomes so convuluted eventually.
"Actually, consumption (sales taxes if you will) are more stable a tax base than income tax so that there will be fewer revenue fluctuations, not more"
Here's a little primer on recession, when there is recession, people will consume less, no more than what they have to spend.
Most of our sales tax windfall items are not necessities, so if people are nervous about the economy, they stop spending, and revenue stops entering
Now, the income tax sucks as does the capital gains nonsense (that's the one I wanted burned in a vat of acid), but the thing about the income tax is. You can use withholding, accountants, etc, so while you are paying money, you don't have to come face to face with it on a daily basis that you're getting squeezed
With a sales tax, you are reminded on a daily basis about taxes, you are reminded every day that it's the government's fault that no price advertised is an actual price, etc. You still have the exact same hatred for the tax man we have today, except you get to be reminded about it every 6 hours.
And another thing, no one has yet addressed my point about sales taxes and credit. Credit purchases are generally taxed just like anything else.