[pigdog]

Oh, but it does. Under the FairTax not only is the income tax repealed, but the IRS is both eliminated AND defunded (just to be sure) and the income tax records are required to be destroyed.

[Axenolith]

So who audits the guy buying personal consumables under their business? Heck, I know business owners out the wazoo who already put cars, dinners, etc... on their business accounts because they're deductable then.

If even one percent of the population is like me, their consumption of new items would drastically drop under an NRST, at the least for 6-18 months while they sat back and waited to see how it would pan out. Consumer spending is currently 70+% of GDP, you knock a percent or two off that and you will be initiating the economic apocalypse.

I'm thinking it would end up being a microcosm of what happened to the US boat building industry when they slapped on luxury taxes. The transition period is the wrench in this idea, though I don't for a minute sweat any suffering that bureaucrats might be exposed to.