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"Counting on business to "pass on the savings" is pretty starry-eyed imho, too."

you don't understand the economics of FREE ENTERPRISE very well, do you????

Every business looks for cost/price advantages to compete against other businesses.....

Example.....Target Passes on a few percent of the savings to get even or below Walmart prices.....is Walmart gonna just sit there and watch Target gain Market Share.....ughhhh.....NO....they will match Targets price reductions or even go beyond Targets lower prices......

Only takes a couple of rounds of this back and forth to pass on the complete savings to the Consumer...... I am am in business and i can honestly say that I would attempt to hold the savings as long as I could but I know that it would only be temporary as I my competitors used "the savings" as away to cut into my business.....

....give me my ENTIRE PAY CHECK, a 10% reduction in prices, NO IRS, UNTAXED INTEREST, NO ESTATE TAXES, NO CAPITAL GAINS taxes and I'll show you a WEALTHIER more PRODUCTIVE and FREE AMERICAN!!!!

you don't need to pound the table for my benefit. I am already on board.(smile)

I think the issue at hand concerns short term revenue projections for the transition to a national sales tax. If i understand the claims from the website, the net pay will become the gross pay, and we will have deflationary pressure, as businesses will have room to cut prices from the "windfall" of moneys they once paid out in employee witholding.

Some have pointed out that this is NOT the imagined scenario of the economist who originally posited the system. The internet being what it is, this has been accompanied by a lot of "THEY ARE LIARS!" vs "YOU ARE A CLOSET CONFISCATORY TAX LOVER!" crap that always swirls around. Rob from GA says that he just wants a good open debate, and I think that it is actually noble to want all the facts out on the table. To start out with a title like JORGENSON EXPLODES FAIRTAX MYTH, though is kind of like standing up on the table and pissing in my soup in order to warn me that canned soup already has too much salt. It is the internet, though. Take everything you see on a bulletin board with caution...., at least that is my advice....., which you should take with caution.

give me my ENTIRE PAY CHECK, a 10% reduction in prices,

That is where the pipe dream has been exposed.

What savings will WalMart and Target pass on?

The 10-20% difference from your current gross income and your current net.

The price will be lower, but you will not make your current Gross, just your current NET (after withholding--this is where the savings are coming from--except the matching SSI). You will have to replace that SSI with your own savings, but from your reduced (by approx 20% wages), and will have to pay taxes on every dime you spend after the poverty level. You will have to do more with less.

Despite the incredible mess we have now, my business expenses are just that--expenses: non taxable.

I pay the state/local sales taxes and all the hidden taxes, and the taxes on the hidden taxes when they are rung up as part of the price.

I do not expect all the excise taxes, etc. to go away, the "fair tax", though, will tax whatever I pay at a new, higher rate--only now business expenses will not be deductible.

Stop and think. A business uses independant owner/operators to haul their frieght. Only the owner/operators can no longer write off the truck, fuel, etc. They are instead paying the new fair tax on every dime of business expenditure. They pass the cost INCREASE on to the businesses they do business with. In the meantime, you are working for wages, and buying goods from that business. Only the wages you work for are at 80% of what they used to be, you still are paying the fair tax on your purchases, while the increase in cost is being passed on to you. You are getting it from both ends.

In the meantime, it is harder than it used to be to declare bankruptcy.

The amount of your mortgage will not go down, you will still owe the same amount.

Other bills in your life will be fixed costs in a deflating economy.

The student loans will not get smaller, except as you pay them off.

The vehicle loan will not shrink, but the chances of trading down to get out from under it will diminish somewhat as used vehicles--yes even yours, go up in price because they are immune to the tax. To trade down, even up, will mean a serious hit in the age and quality of your vehicle.

If you are well set up and living modestly, you will not end up in the street. Otherwise, you are on the road to the poorhouse.

Businesses will not be so quick to replace vehicle fleets, computer equipment, and other infrastructure, just because in 5 cycles they will have paid for a sixth--in taxes, whereas now, it pays to take the write-off to increase productivity.

Once that stone hits the economic pond, the ripple will travel far.

Can you say Depression?

If you couldn't tell, I am far from sold on this plan.

I may not be a PhD in economics, but my grandfather taught me this much: If it looks too good to be true, then it probably is.

...and he raised four children through the Depression.

I am in pretty good shape, myself, my total debt is less than many pay for a single vehicle. It is my grandchildren I worry about.

The current code could be grossly simplified, if it would just be done.