I really don't like the idea of having both a federal income tax and a federal sales tax. A future congress could up the rates on both. There is no super-majority necessary to raise tax rates.
That’s a silly argument, considering that are already dozens of embedded taxes that Congress jacks the rates up on all the time under your nose.
I’d rather have the NST (national sales tax) because it’s much more salient.
Phase #2 of 999 gets rid of the income tax and IRS. :)
I sympathize with that sentiment.
However, a consumption-based (sales) tax is infinitely preferable to the abominable income tax, for many compelling reasons which most well-read patriots agree on.
What I don't want to see, and it's already happening, is this debate becoming an excuse to preserve and maintain the income tax in some form, but morphing it into a flat tax or some such. The Tyrannical federal income tax must be eliminated at all costs.
So, let's get someone elected who is willing to call for the repeal of the 16th Amendment, and get the sales tax going at the same time. A phased approach, which guaranteed that the income tax would end, might be necessary, due to the incrementalism that some would call for with respect to implementation. But we should definitely move towards consumption-based taxes, as well as minimal government, of course.
To my mind, any tax reform which continues the enslavement of the American middle class via an income tax, is not significant reform at all.