Blemishes in the Fair Tax
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Editor's Note: There are a lot of ideas on how to "fix" taxes, though many conflict with each other and most fail. From around the world, here is one of several current prescriptions.
It's a great idea—on paper: Scrap the individual income tax, the estate tax, the payroll tax, and the corporate income tax, and replace them all with a single, 23 percent national sales tax. This would boost the economy by eliminating red tape and removing loopholes that clutter the tax code. At least, that's the case made by proponents of the so-called FairTax, a group that includes about one-fourth of House Republicans.