What's Wrong With a National Sales Tax?

What's wrong with a national sales tax, consumption tax, or the disingenuously named "fair tax"? Let me count the ways:

1. People already cheat to avoid paying sales tax at just 8 percent. How much more motivated to cheat will they be when the sales tax rate is over 20 percent? Why set up a system that just begs people to cheat?

2. Without a constitutional amendment limiting the forms of taxation our government can impose on us we'll get tax creep. In other words, we'll probably end up with BOTH a national sales tax AND a national income tax.

3. Sales taxes are a burden and a drag on the economy, like an anchor around the national neck, hurting everyone.

4. A national sales tax places most of the tax burden on the low and middle income. The wealthy will be able to manipulate millions tax free in the stock market and buying and selling homes etcetera while the less wealthy shoulder the burden. Imagine a homeless person begging for money. If you give the homeless person one dollar they really only get less than 80 cents of benefit because whatever they buy, more than 20 cents will go towards sales tax. If a homeless person only gets one dollar for an entire year, is it reasonable they should lose 20% to sales tax? The only way to avoid this kind of absurd situation is to keep records and give special breaks to poor people but then we end up with a convoluted tax system like we already have. Remember, it is the deductions and the tax on businesses that make our current tax system so convoluted and unfair in the first place.

5. People, especially wealthy people, will be motivated to buy their stuff outside of America. Then we'll need to have onerous customs inspections and more tax laws to regulate the importation of personal property. Naturally, the very wealthy will always be able to get around any of these laws just like they get out of paying income taxes under our current system.

The bottom line: A national sales tax is a really BAD idea.