Elon Musk, not so drastically, perhaps, but he seems to be able to put his money to good use.
I do agree there should not be a VAT tax. So... Make it a retail only sales tax, so people really realize what the government costs!
Then, why not give everyone what would essentially be a debit card good for a year. It can only be used to pay retail sales tax. No information except the amount deducted from your "tax" card leaves the seller's register to be sent to the gov't. If you use up your card, the card is rejected and you get charged for sales tax, but, no moneys sent in are connected to information about individuals (much as sales taxes work now.) So basically you swipe that AND then your regular credit / debit card (or pay cash for items themselves) at the time of payment. Maybe the "tax card" is good for, oh, $20k? Or maybe less, but make some essentials tax free or low tax. In KY, the sales tax on most food is 0. In IL it is 1%. Etc.
There are surely details and kinks to be worked out, but there is no reason a consumption tax must be regressive.
Almost anything would be better than an income tax, partially because income tax returns also get used for so much social engineering / means testing.
Oh, give me a break. I can GUARANTEE you Gates pays more in taxes under the current code than he ever will under a consumption tax. I can also guarantee you that you will pay far more under a consumption tax than under the current code.
or maybe just acknowledge that no consumption tax has ever existed that wasn’t regressive because we largely consume around the same amount.
Why not start by not double taxing corporate profits?
This way, I won’t have to read the notions of the wealthy being undertaxed on money that was already taxed once at the corporate level.