I never have and have posted so on this forum only to be chewed on by the financial morons. I hate the IRS as much as anybody. I have been in business since I left the Army in '75. I've been audited and harassed and I still would not want a National Sales Tax or a VAT (national labor and sales tax).
I am not a Marxist. Far from it. I remain a Goldwater/Reagan Republican. However, though Marx was in favor of it, to his credit he was right. The "Progressive Income Tax" is the fairest way to tax a free population. How the progressive income tax is authorized and implemented is the problem.
There are those that dispute that. Fine, you're welcome to your opinion and your ignorance. But within five years of a National Sales Tax, or consumption tax, there will be such an economic depression in the US that it will make the Great Depression seem like a recession.
If we must be taxed, an income tax does seem to be a fairer way of taxing people. However, I would use a proportional (flat) tax instead of a progressive tax. As far as I'm concerned, people paying a flat tax really are paying their fair share of income.
I think Everyone should pay a fixed dollar amount. Maybe $7,000 a year. No more, no less. Now THAT would be fair.
It's the price you pay to live in the USA. Same charge for anyone.
It's nobody's business how much I make, or how much I spend, or what I spend it on.
Now THAT's fair.
No breaks for anything, and no records, except if you paid that year. If you can't pay, you sweep the floors of government buildings, 40 hours a week, until you have paid your debt.
We'd have 20% GDP increase per year.
I think Property taxes are what should be abolished.