Your comparison of tax rates is flawed. Take the $100k earner paying $21k in taxes (21%) under today's system. Since $21k of their money is gone, it's not available for spending (100k-21k=79k). If their wages and spending habits remain the same with the NRST implemented, they would pay 23% on 79k or 18.2k which is 18.2% of their income.
Additionally, you're assuming that the earner is spending everything they make on new items. Yes, lots of people live that, but many of us also save and buy used items (not subject to the proposed NRST).
With all that being said, I'm not a proponent of the NRST, but I am interested in alternatives to the current system.
Thats all well and good, but what worries me is goods in the pipeline. The Ten Jillion new cars setting on lots will all have the embedded tax.What happens to them. Also we exempt used goods and something else and somthing else and we end up worse than today.
barbra ann