By the way, President Bush and Speaker Haster BOTH have made statements supporting replacing the income tax with a national sales tax. If that makes a person "out of the mainstream," I'd say it's good company.
I have never heard the President support a national sales tax. Speaker Hastert wrote about it in his new book. I don't support it myself, but would support a flat percentage income tax rate for all workers. Dick Armey had a plan several years back that called for a flat 18% for all taxpayers.