I just think that if there was a flat NRST, every time the liberal marxists like Hillary raised taxes, the average joe buying his big gulp would be aware that it cost him a few cents more. "Soak the rich, he77! They are soaking me!". No one except the top 10% or so who pay all the taxes cares that the federal government alone soaks up 30+% of the economy. If they had to pay 30 cents on the dollar every time they went shopping, they might start to question if government might be too big - by a factor of 3 or so at least. When 60% of the voting public pay almost no income tax, they see no impact of either tax increases or cuts. We need to make the poor pay their fair share.