First off, it will be percieved as regressive and so there will be a complicated series of negotiations over the rates on "necessities" versus "luxuries" with all of the political pork barrel politics which goes with that.
With the FairTax only new goods and services sold at retail level (ie., for consumption) will be taxed and all at the same rate.
Second, there will be a move to hide the tax by moving toward an "all taxes included" pricing (as is the case with sales of gasoline now in the US).
Each sales receipt will have a line items showing the amount of tax.
Lastly, paying taxes should "hurt". It shouldn't be painless.
The tax is visible with every retail purchase.
For more information see: FairTax.
Ask yourself why gas prices in the US (and any good for that matter which contains a US excise tax e.g. tires) are priced "all taxes included"... Any VAT-like prices would soon follow.
Your scheme would also create an entire industry of "phony" corporations which would purchase consumption items "wholesale" to avoid paying the taxes.
Again, the arguments against VAT are not entirely economic, but they ARE based on how human beings will respond to such a scheme.