Nothing is hidden with the FairTax! Nothing!
In fact, the FairTax would REQUIRE that a detailed receipt, showing where ALL the money is going, be issued with every purchase.
The overall size of taxation and spending is "hidden" and minimized by the Fair Tax.
Let's say an item on the shelf under the Fair Tax is priced at $100 and next year we see that the same item is priced at $105. What's your initial reaction?
Well I would imagine it would be, "It's only 5 bucks more." Or, "It's inflation and the manufacturer increased his price by 5%."
Not until you got your receipt would you see that the price of the product remained at $77 but the NRST went from $23 to $28. What looked like a 5% price increase from the manufacturer was really an enormous across the board 22% tax increase!
Oh sure. You can say it's not "hidden". It's right there for everyone to see. Printed right on the receipt. Plus, the tax increase was in the news.
But the average shopper will see a $5 increase, not a 22% tax hike. The overall impact is "hidden" and minimized. What looks like 5% is really 22%
States do it all the time. If they want to raise the sales tax fron 4% to 5%, what do they say? A one-cent increase. That's all. Just a penny more.
When in reality, it's a 25% tax increase!