There is one other significant point that you missed RE: the fair tax.

People that are wealthy spend a much smaller portion of thier income, as a matter of course. In time, this tax would become massively regressive as an individual that is earning 10 million dollars a year might spend (retail) somewhere in the neighborhood of 100K, whereas an individual making 20K per year is spending 8 or 10K in the same year.

I understand the rebates are supposed to account for this -- but in fact, there is no way for any rebate or deduction system to address the exhorbitantly rich.

Alternatives? How about a 100% estate tax and nothing else? The government can have every penny when I die, as long as my funeral is acounted for. After all, the American Ideal is for each person to find thier own way and achieve thier own successes. So how about eliminating the entire class of trust fund losers?

Or, conversely, let employers pay ALL taxes, based upon salaries, but set up a schedule that encourages wages in the middlin range as opposed to either low or high. This would, in effect, replace the need for minimum wages, and it would probably also encourage benefit packages, as those would be outside the scope of the tax.

But let's not kid ourselves, our government will never embrace TRUE reform -- there's just too many people with too much invested in the status quo -- and too many pansy ass politicians that don't want to rock the boat.

tp