Fair Tax vs Flat Tax

Advocates of both the "Fair Tax" and the "Flat Tax" ignore one basic fact: Government has become too expensive! It costs about 10 times what it would if kept to its Constitutionally-defined limits. I could support a "Fair Tax" only if:

1 - there were absolutely no other federal taxes,
2 - federal tax is capped at 3% (5% for a maximum of 1 year during periods of formal Constitutionally-declared war and to pay off war debt),
3 - the central government would keep itself on a rigidly balanced budget with peacetime spending capped at 2.8% with the remaining .2% reserved for the possibility of formal Constitutionally-declared war, and
4 - the central government would borrow only as necessary during times of formal Constitutionally-declared war.

That means that the alphabet soup of almost everyone's favorite "free" federal government program will have to go. As many as 2,000 federal agencies and over 2 million federal bureaucrats would be pulled off the backs and out of the pockets of hard-working Americans. Those people would have to find productive employment instead of focusing on how best to be a burden. That would not only be a shock to the RIFed (Reduction In Force) federal bureaucrats, but also to Americans who are addicted to "free" stuff. So, the cuts would be phased in over a period of 10 years. After that, the only things the central government would continue to do would be those specifically authorized in Article I, Section 8 of the US Constitution (defense, immigration, customs, Post Roads, etc.)

"Would you give up your favorite federal programs if it meant you'd never have to pay income tax again?" -- Harry Browne