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That section was written by literal buffoons.

http://www.taxfoundation.org/blog/show/1112.html

First they calculated that a 64% to 87% NRST would be necessary to fund federal government. This shows they are complete idiots. By declaring that the federal government requires that amount of taxation on retail sales and services, they are broadcasting how large they think federal government is.

Never mind that their calculations were flawed, they proceeded to announce that government was as large as 87% of retail sales in the USA. That is an astounding number. Not one of the committee members thought to express horror over such numbers. Nor did they require that assumptions be checked. The entire design of their response was to create a subterfuge of recklessness to underpin their predetermined rejection.

Any reasonable person would have sounded the alarm on such numbers before they were broadcast. Any reasonable person would have rejected the analysis of 64% to 87% excise tax because if it were even close to the truth, the shock of such numbers would have reverberated throughout the Halls of Congress for years and years.

But Congressional offices reacted in disbelief to such numbers and their own academic liaisons reported that those numbers were preposterous.

Second, the committee recommended keeping the Income tax and doing away with mortgage deductions. This recommendation was so politically asinine that the entire two year effort of Mack and Breaux was declared a horrendous boondoggle, a completely wasted effort.

And that is what the IRS wanted. They wanted no change to their code, they wanted it kept as-is including the monstrous Alternative Minimum Tax. And that is what we have today.

So they won the first round with panel tampering. The next round is going to bring them out into the open where everyone can see them and what they stand for.

Never mind that their calculations were flawed, they proceeded to announce that government was as large as 87% of retail sales in the USA.

If you read the tax panel's report you would know that they made calculations based on several different scenarios; the one you reference assumes that purchases now generally exempt from sales taxes would also be exempt under the FairTax.

BTW, why did Florida give up its plan to implement a sales tax on services? Do you think an attempt to implement the FairTax would raise the same issues? What is the FairTaxers plan to address those issues?