We are just beginning to see a recovery in the power of the states against the federal government. An NRST will destroy that.
Do you realize that the rate will be closer to 28% to 30%, without the 6% to 10% state sales tax? And everything new sold without exception will carry that rate, groceries, internet connections?
Scrapping the IRS and income tax code is all well and fine, but realize that the 16th amendment will have to be repealed first, and do any out here have a idea of the time required to ratify such an amendment?
What if the congress allowed the NRST to go forward with a promise to repeal the 16th, and Oh my! we just can get enough states to reatify the repealing amendment.
How would social security be funded? It would be a portion of the NRST, but it would have to maintain the level it currently is, by law. If there were a great move to used products, then the level of NRST will fall and require a hike in the rate either directly or indirectly to get it back to level.
You have to realize that the federal government is not going to take a pay cut, so you will not be relieved of the confiscatory amount of money you send to the fed, just how it is collected. It has been said that collecting payroll taxes and other expenses related to the income and FICA will be rolled back thereby actually lowering item prices.
First, there is no way that could be demanded by law; it would have to be voluntary on the part of businesses, starting at manufacturing and trickling up to retain, where the tax is collected. Everyone is more or less comfortable with prices as they are. An additional NRST will reaise prices dramatically and thoroughly mask the failure to not remove the old income tax price padding.
The income tax law grew from about 90 pages to 90,000 pages, if I remember correctly, over its life. Rates increased from about 1% to what it is now. Every day there are people protesting the confiscatory tax by refusing to pay it, and that very same behavior was the reason that congress scaled back on the brutal tactics of the IRS in the middle '80s.
This public resistance tends to keep abuse in check. With a NRST, the only way for an ordinary citizen to check abuse will be to not buy food, clothing, heating oil, electricity and gas. Who out here thinks that the rates and ceilings won't be raised and raised, like the income tax was?
Instead of just clicking your heels, you should be inventigating the host of details. That's where this particular devil lies. YOu think the income tax is bad. Just wait a couple years after an NRST and a couple rate hikes. 