"Sticker Shock??? Are you kidding. I think everyone knows that taxes are too high."
Not at all true. Have you ever heard anyone respond when asked how much taxes they paid last year "oh, I didn't pay, I got a refund"? Even on FR, you can hear objections that we will never get this passed because of all those who pay little, if any, income taxes and they will have little reason to support it for that reason. That ignores the fact that many on the lower end of the income ladder pay more in payroll taxes than they do in income taxes and that much of our tax burden is hidden in the price of the goods that we pay.
If all the FairTax did was ........
eliminate several hundred billion per year in compliance costs ..... that alone would make it worthwhile.
make US produced goods more competitive in the global marketplace .... that alone would make it worthwhile.
eliminate the most abusive and un-American federal agency in existence, the IRS ..... that alone would make it worthwhile.
The fact that it also makes the federal taxes we pay more visible and would therefore exert downward pressure on tax and spending rates is frosting on the cake.
As you say, we simply disagree. FairTaxers see a major benefit in making the tax burden more visible to all Americans who pay it; you don't.
Correction
".....the price of the goods that we pay."
S/B
"..... the prices of the goods we buy."
Don't forget my personal favorite:
If all it did was cripple the K Street lobbyists because business would no longer have an interest in taxes ... that alone would make it worthwhile.
What would Congress Critters do with all their time if they didn't have a line of lobbyists at their door ready to buy favors ? Do you suppose they'd actually find time for good legislation and listening to their constituents ? Maybe not, but more likely than today, anyway.