Bipartisan Tax Reform Panel Report

I did my analysis independently (in January 2006) based on the system proposed by the FairTax advocates and income and tax data from the IRS.  At that time, I was not aware of the Tax Reform Panel  Report issued 11/1/2005.  That was a bipartisan panel appointed by President Bush.  They concluded that the national sales tax would not come close to replacing the personal income tax alone.  Their analysis did not consider such damaging provisions as the exemption of all "used" items.   They estimated the cost of the 'prebate' at $600 to $780 Billion versus my more conservative estimate of $500 Billion.  They predict an even more severe tax evasion problem than I did.  They conclude that the administrative costs of the sales tax would equal or exceed those of the current IRS.   Their estimate of the regressive nature (transfer of tax burden from the rich to the middle class and poor) is even more pronounced than mine.  (I was intentionally conservative in my analysis.)

The Tax Reform Panel recommendation is the same as mine - a simplified personal income tax.

Link to their final report  - http://taxreformpanel.gov/final-report/

Link to  national sales tax -  http://taxreformpanel.gov/final-report/TaxReform_Ch9.pdf

See the Dayton Daily News Opinion on Fairtax 12/29/07